Hybrid
by doodlelover
Summary: In a world where pets have distinct human traits, Iruka finds himself worried over his new housemate's pet, Sasuke. This is where the feline-like Sasuke meets a very peculiar fox Hybrid that perks his interest. SasuNaru NaruSasu
1. Prologue: Chapter One: Foxy Friend

**-laughs- I remember when I first made this...it royally sucked. The first chapter is still a little rough around the edges, but I assure you that the chapters will get longer, and will make a lot more sense in the future.**

**Now...for the warnings.**

**YAOI!! Meaning SasuNaruSasu. A _lot_ of it. And also side pairings. Meaning _more_ Yaoi. So, don't like it? TOO BAD! -coughs- but you're welcome to read this anyway if you don't like it. Despite other non-yaoi side couples like KibaHina, this is going to focus on our two favorite boys. Sasuke and Naruto. But it isn't decided who will top _first_. I'll have a vote later.  
**

**Let's see...this is going to be pretty graphic, so if you have over-protective parents, or perhaps are too young to read this, go away. Now. I don't try and bleep anything. I like being desciptive XP**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it! Though you wish I did, because it wouldn't be dubbed and wouldn't be rated PG. More like NC17-ish. And would have hot, sexy, man-smex in every episode.**

* * *

**_Epilogue_**

* * *

_This is the product of many scientific experiments and several failures. After years of research, famous genetic scientist 'Orochimaru' has made a scientific breakthrough. This is sure to be the most talked about discovery for many years to come. The famous scientist has proved it possible to mix human genetics with that of animals, resulting in what he calls to be 'Hybrids'. Several millionaires are already bidding on these exotic and popular animals. They can range to dogs all the way to the rare Siberian tiger. What amazes and intrigues most are the strange resemblance they hold to actual humans. The only thing that can determine that they are in fact animals are the unique ears and tail they receive during the experiments. The scientist assure us that they are in fact only animals and have nowhere near the intelligence we posses. But what seems to be their flaw is actually what attracts these people to them. People everywhere are putting up bids on the limited supply of them already. Orochimaru is already described as the genius of the century, along with being the most wealthy man alive. One of these creatures goes for at least 2.5 million and the prices keep increasing. Hundreds of these animals are being created and sold every passing minute at varying prices. The streets are already colored with the many different breeds._

Kakashi's eyes roamed the ancient newspaper. It seemed like ages ago that he had read it, and was perplexed enough to want to go and see one of these auctions. Though he had never wanted to buy one, he ended up purchasing one anyways. The creature that caught his eye just seemed too proud to be sold off to one of the scums there.

And he was indeed beautiful in every way. Midnight fur, perfect ears perched upon raven locks and the most elegant tail you had ever seen. And to contrast to that perfect darkness, his skin was soft and looked to be made of porcelain, almost as white as the first fall of snow.

Sasuke was indeed a beauty. He'd never seen a wild leopard even compare to how he looked.

But as perfect as something seemed, everyone knows that every carved surface always has a nick in it. Sasuke's nick was that damned pride of his. Stubborn, rude, and hotheaded. Everything about him screamed perfection, and he knew it almost too well. Sasuke was a thorn in his side, and he never once in his life acted like the obedient pet he was supposed to be. Not that he would ever treat him like one though, that would be wrong. Sasuke was too intelligent to be treated like an animal, as everyone else had. He knew almost from the beginning that he had the potential to learn what he himself did. So he tried it, and Sasuke had ended up just like he guessed he would.

That was when he found Konoha. A small school program that was made for the education of Hybrids like Sasuke. Animals that showed signs of intelligence far beyond what was intended. And he went from there. Eventually getting a job as a teacher there himself, and finding out many more things that he never would have known if it weren't for Sasuke.

* * *

**Hybrid**

* * *

**"**Kakashi..."

"_Kakashi_."

"Kakashi!"

"Quit sucking face and get some more milk dammit!" Sasuke screeched while throwing an empty milk carton at his 'master'. The silver haired teacher turned around and stopped his ministrations on the flushing brunette. Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at both the men, tail swishing angrily across the floor, his ears flattened.

"Kitty out of milk again?" Kakashi mocked, grinning under the disheveled mask he tried to pry back on.

"Shut up Kakashi and go to the store before I rip up those damn books of yours!" Kakashi's eyes widened in shock. He knew perfectly well that Sasuke was capable of doing so. He once came home to find his entire house ripped to shreds just because the feline couldn't find any cat-nip. He sniggered at that. Sasuke or not, he couldn't feign his primal urges, that included his craving for things like cat-nip and anything milk based. But unfortunately, that also meant that he would tear up his house if he failed to keep up a good supply of these things.

He let out a breath of air, while waving his hands in defense. "Yes, yes Sasuke. Just give me a few moments to get ready."

"Ready my ass, Kakashi. Go now or I'll burn them." he held out a small stack of books that no one had noticed were there before.

"No! Okay, okay! I'm going, I'm going!" he threw on a shirt and rushed down stairs, but not before he grabbed the books from the boys hands. Sasuke turned his gaze to the other man in the room.

"G-good morning, Sasuke. Things going well enough for you?"

"Yes, things are fine Iruka-sensei." he turned and walked away, while the molested teacher slumped against the wall he was previously being pinned against. He let out a sigh and got ready to face another day in his new home.

A little more than a week ago Kakashi had asked him to move in with him, and he accepted with an open heart. He loved Kakashi and was more than willing to move in. But he was starting to notice the change in Sasuke's attitude as well. Since he had moved in he had acted more emotional and moody. Usually he kept to himself when he was over in the past, but that changed as soon as Iruka moved in. He became rash, aggravated and a whole lot more defensive.

Iruka blamed it on the animal instincts that he still held. He guessed that it was because black leopards were extremely territorial and Sasuke probably felt that he was intruding on his turf. The cat did seem extremely protective of Kakashi's and his stuff lately. Always hoarding it and packing it into his room for safe keeping. He would have to talk to Kakashi about it later.

After realizing that Kakashi would be leaving and he wouldn't be able to talk to him, he hurriedly rushed down stairs and almost missed him as he walked out the door.

"Kakashi-sensei!" he yelled after him.

"Yes, Iruka-chan?" said man frowned at the nickname as the silver haired man smiled at him.

"Would you mind if I came with you...?"

"Of course not! Lets go shopping together sweetheart!" he felt himself getting red from embarrassment and anger as he followed the man out the door.

_**--**_

After getting plenty of groceries along with several cartons of milk and creme, they were now sitting silently while Iruka stared out the window of the car, watching as a blur of trees and different types of foliage passed as they drove on. He was pondering on Sasuke's change of behavior and what they could do to help.

Reaching a sort of resolve, he turned his head towards the driving man. "Kakashi-sensei?" he still hadn't grown out of calling him that.

"Hm, Iruka-chan?"

He chose to ignore the name and continued. "I was thinking and... don't you think Sasuke started to act differently when I moved in? He seems more intimidated and reserved than he used to be...I'm worried about him...Is there anything that we could do to help?" Kakashi looked thoughtful for a few moments, almost a little too thoughtful, and Iruka feared for their safety for a brief moment before Kakashi returned his gaze back to the road, and smiled.

"I was just thinking the same thing Iruka a few days ago. And I came up with the most brilliant decision!" Iruka eyed the man wearily but listened to him nonetheless.

--

"WHAT?! You can't be serious!"

"Quite serious, Iruka."

"B-but! You can't seriously be thinking about this! Think about how much that'll cost!"

"Hmm, it may be too much for you but I have quite the little fortune saved up."

"But you can't take care of Sasuke _and_ another pet!"

"Sasuke's able to take care of himself, and besides, this is for Sasuke remember?"

After much debating and arguing on the topic of Sasuke's irritation, Kakashi had suggested that they get another Hybrid. Iruka protested of course, saying that it would only cause more trouble and Sasuke would only get more flustered. But of course Kakashi already had all of this planned out when he thought of the idea in the first place, he was well ready for all the protests the other man would have.

"But..."

"No buts Iruka. I already called the supplier yesterday and he's awaiting us already. So as soon as we drop this stuff off and get Sasuke, we can go over right away." Iruka sulked and sank in his seat, feeling defeated.

"But what if Sasuke doesn't like the idea? Surely you can't force it on him?"

"I'm sure Sasuke wouldn't mind having a female around for himself, and I was thinking about breeding him anyway. Uchiha is a dying breed and very rare. His offspring would go for a fortune, though I doubt that Sasuke would willingly sell off his heir." Iruka wasn't really listening after that and ignored the man as they pulled up to the very large house they lived in. Space wouldn't be a problem, they had so many spare rooms that it was ridiculous. Sometimes he wondered why his lover had bought such a large house in the first place. Kakashi was a strange man indeed.

"SASUKE-KUN!" Kakashi called through the house. It didn't take long before the Hybrid was stomping down the stairs, ears still lying flat on his head, and tail twitching in irritation.

"What the hell took you so long?" he bit out.

"Me and Iruka we're just talking. Now go and get dressed. We're leaving right now." Sasuke glared, a hint of curiosity in his eyes, but complied, grabbing a carton of milk from Kakashi on his way, chugging it down.

Iruka and Kakashi had another bout of arguing, and soon after they were out the door and driving in the direction of the building that had the largest selection of Hybrids in the country. As soon as Sasuke laid eyes on the building he began to curse Kakashi six ways to Sunday and repeatedly kicked the back of his seat, demanding that they turn around that second.

After parking, Sasuke refused to get out and glued himself to the seat, not planning to move an inch. Kakashi tried his hardest to pull out the fifteen year old but his efforts were in vain. He waited a few moments and soon supplied a threat that had Sasuke rushing out the door faster than you could say 'shock collar'.

The building was very appealing from the outside and just as nice inside. Upon entering you could see that it was a very exceptional place. The walls were a welcoming white and the tiled floors were polished to perfection, looking as if it were the first time it was walked on. If you looked around the walls that weren't painted were lined with glass cages that held the most exotic animals you would ever see.

They were beautiful in every way. Perfectly groomed fur that glistened and skin that seemed to be molded by the gods. Of course Sasuke's skin and fur outdid each and every one of them, but they were still very beautiful creatures. Most were sleeping but some stirred and pressed up against the glass to meet the new arrivals.

Sasuke looked around in distaste. He liked to keep to himself and didn't like the presence of other Hybrids, especially when they held no intelligence whatsoever. The only reason he tolerated the animals at the school was because they had some sort of superiority like he himself did towards other Hybrids. These animals however were like brainless twits. Slobbering over themselves and jumping around like morons.

Kakashi talked to the owner of the store, and soon Sasuke was being ushered into approaching one of the animals that had been let out to meet him and his owners. It looked shyly at him and padded up to him cautiously. It's round ears twitched as Sasuke held out his hand for it to smell. As expected, it smelled and then licked at his hand before he withdrew it quickly. Another brainless one.

He waved his hand for it to be put back. Animal after animal was brought out to him. Most of them would try and tackle him to the ground, and he was mortified after a dog breed tried to hump his leg senseless. Sasuke waved off the females as soon as he saw them after that.

Soon he was down to the very last animal and he soon got bored with it. Honestly, like he would have approved any of them anyways. He wanted nothing to do with them, and he surely wasn't going home with another pet next to him.

"Aw...Come on Sasuke! There has to be one you must've liked! What about the poodle that-"

Sasuke cut him off with a glare. "No, Kakashi. Now lets go." he turned around and headed to the door.

"Wait!" the shop keeper yelled helplessly after them. It was very rarely that he had the chance to please a man as wealthy as Hatake, and he wasn't going to be blown off that easily. "We do have some in the back that we don't showcase out here! Perhaps you would like to see those?" he added hastily.

Kakashi blinked and looked at Sasuke pleadingly. The leopard hesitated but then nodded and Kakashi nearly screamed in delight. The shopkeeper smiled and led them to the back of the room.

He showed them many others that seemed promising, but Sasuke turned them all down. Soon they were at the end and the shop keeper looked down solemnly. "There is no more left I'm afraid...Perhaps maybe-"

"What about that door?" Sasuke pointed at the end of the hall. The man looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well I'm not so sure about that one. He tends to be a handful. Wouldn't you rather-"

"Let's see it." Sasuke sauntered down the hall, the shopkeeper and his two owners on his heels. He looked at the metal door and frowned at the many locks on it. He briefly wondered what those were for, but stopped when the last lock was unlatched by the shop keeper and the door was slowly opened.

He stepped inside and glared slightly at the poor keeping of the room. The walls were dirty and covered in scratch marks and the floor was concrete, covered in a small layer of hay. He looked to the farthest corner and saw a small bundle beginning to stir. He slowly approached it. Maybe there was at least _one_ pet here that wasn't completely brainless.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and got a glimpse of an orange-yellow ear poking out from a blond mop of fur. It was rimmed with black and had the smallest hint of white on it. He peered closer and heard the slight clanging of metal rubbing against itself. The blond mop lifted it's head and Sasuke's eyes met blue ones.

An tail matching the color of it's ears swept across the hay covered floor, making a scratchy noise in it's wake. The small creature sat up and looked at him curiously. It crawled on it's hands and knees up to him and a small nose sniffed at his clothing, as the azure eyes trailed his face, watching his every move. Sasuke offered is hand as he had done to the others, and just like always the creature sniffed it. Sasuke sighed.

"Another idiot." he yelped in surprise after his sentence was uttered.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he withdrew his hand quickly, cradling it like a newborn child. _'Did it just _bite_ me?' _he stared down at his hand and it indeed was bleeding, a sure sign of being bitten.

None of the others dared to even look at him wrong and this small creature had just _bitten_ him? _'What the hell?' _he looked back down at what he presumed to be a fox breed, and was miffed to see it grinning ear to ear mischievously. It tilted it's head innocently continuing to smile like an idiot. After finally processing what had happened, he frowned at the fox, flattening his ears.

--

"So, what's with the high security? Surely it isn't that dangerous?" Kakashi asked the owner.

"Well, he isn't dangerous just...troublesome. Every pen he's ever been put in he's escaped from. And every time he does escape he tears up the place! So I really didn't have much a choice. I really don't suggest you purchase this one."

"And why not?"

"Umm...It's a very new breed that wasn't let entirely. After they released it to be sold, the owners had some problems controlling it."

"What kinds of problems?"

"Where not entirely sure why, but sometimes the breed can get extremely dangerous and violent. That's why this breed was discontinued and many were killed off."

Iruka stared at the man, horrified. "They killed them...?" Iruka said disbelievingly. "Why would they do that?"

"Many of the owners--having discovered their tendencies to get rough--had their pets put down and replaced." the man looked down at his hands. "Naruto showed no signs of lashing out, and besides his habit of destroying things, seemed perfectly fine. I couldn't bring myself to put him down."

Iruka looked at the man and then smiled lightly. He wasn't so sure about the man at first, but he seemed like a very kind shop keep. He was about to comment on that when he heard a loud yell come from the door.

"OUCH!" The three men whipped their heads toward the door and Iruka rushed towards it.

--

"Sasuke?! Are you okay in here?" Kakashi asked worriedly. What if what that man said was true and Naruto was starting to lash out?

He opened the door and poked his head in. He blinked, and then full out laughed.

Sasuke was currently trying to escape form a very tightly woven cocoon of chains wrapped around him. As a sleek black tail lashed madly he noticed a blur of red and blonde trying to pin it down. Trying not to laugh too loudly and interrupt them, he let the two alone to bond a little more.

"Kakashi? What's the matter? Is Sasuke alright?" Iruka asked in slight panic.

"Yes, perfectly fine Iruka. Now let's talk more about this little condition of the fox's."

--

Sasuke sat with his arms crossed, glaring across the room. After finally getting untied he had settled himself in the farthest corner, away from the little deviant that had tried to capture him--roughly succeeding in the task.

With the chains that were strapped to the fox, there was no way he could reach him. He watched the other make futile efforts of trying to escape and reach him. Despite having the most unique personality, he was still very unintelligent.

He eyed the blonde up and down. There was something about this ones scent that he just couldn't keep away from, and he soon found that he was slowly approaching. He got about a foot away from the fox and stopped dead in his tracks.

The fox was bleeding. The place where the cuffs met his skin were extremely raw and blood was coming out. The blonde whimpered, noticing where Sasuke was looking. Hesitantly he took the fox's hand in his and flicked out one of his claws. He expertly wriggled his nail in the lock, and when he heard a satisfying 'click' he removed it and the chains.

So, Kakashi putting a lock on the fridge wasn't in vain after all, he was now a professional lock smith. He smiled at his work and looked to the fox, who smiled happily at him.

"There, now show some appreciation and don't tie me up again." the other nodded. Sasuke raised a brow. '_So he can understand me, huh?' _Sasuke pondered this, maybe he could be educated.

"Can you say...'Sasuke'?" he sounded out the syllables many times to try and get the pet to understand. After many futile efforts, he sighed and gave up. He walked towards the door and stopped when he heard something.

"What...?"

"Sa..." Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Try again."

"Suke."

"Again."

"Sake!" the boy smiled brightly and continued to attempt to say his name over and over again, though most of it was slurred and slightly off, Sasuke allowed a small smirk of his own.

True, he didn't like other pets that were brain-dead, but he didn't want to leave one with potential behind. Kakashi would just bring him to another shop like this one anyway. This fox was better than a stupid pet that would drool all over the place.

"So...you got a name, fox?"

* * *

**Sorry for any typos and/or mistakes in grammar. I don't have a beta for this, but I'm looking for one. Any offers? -Pfft- fine.**

**That was chapter one, the next one should be up soon, depending how much people want it up. So...reviews? Hate it? Love it? TELL ME!**


	2. Chapter Two: Perverted Interests?

**Oh...what's this? An update? I HAVE UPDATED?! xD I glad that you've all liked it so far! It really makes me happy that I got reviews X3 And even more alerts!**

**So...sorry this chapter is short, and it's not really that good either. I wrote the first chapters a while ago and since I don't really want to change that much in the story I haven't edited a lot of it. Hopefully the quality will get better as the story progresses!**

**As for the SasuNaru/NaruSasu stuff...I'll keep it a mix between the two. In a few chapters I'll make another poll consisting of who will top _first_. So look out for that!**

**Disclaimer**: **Are Izumo and Kotetsu together? Is the show focusing more on them making out? Are Sasuke and Naruto together? No...? Then I don't own it.**

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**CHAPTER TWO**

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"So, how troublesome do you think he will be?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly while they awaited Sasuke. He was kind hearted, but really didn't want something that could become bothersome in the near future. He raised a slender brow at the owner when he didn't receive an immediate answer.

"Well, I would like to keep him here in case he does become a problem when he gets older. But I really don't think I can keep you from buying him--the store's policy doesn't allow it." The young man looked distraught, as if he was fearing for his job.

"I'm not that interested in buying a pet that will be bothersome. So I guess you're in the clear." Kakashi noticed the store owner let out a relieved breath, shoulders relaxing with the action.

"Thank you so much, Hatake-san!" the man shouted enthusiastically. Kakashi waved it off, saying it was nothing.

"Uh, Kakashi," Iruka piped in. Kakashi and the owner looked at him, seeming to realize he was there. Iruka glared before continuing. "What about Sasuke? He hasn't come out for awhile." The man's chocolate colored eyes glanced worriedly towards the metal door.

Just as Kakashi was about to reply, Sasuke form appeared from behind the door as it was opened, the cat shutting it gently behind him. He looked through the glass window for a second, and Kakashi could have sworn he saw the lightest hint of a smile on the boys lips, but before he could confirm his suspicions Sasuke turned and all hints of it were nonexistent.

Sasuke stepped up to Kakashi and looked to him expectantly.

"Escaped have we? Well, I guess we should be leaving then." the silver haired man turned to leave.

"Leaving?" Sasuke questioned, glaring at the man. Kakashi turned back to Sasuke, while Iruka looked worriedly between the two, as did the owner.

"Yes, leaving. Unless, you have something to say?"

Sasuke ignored him and turned to the store owner. "How much?"

Everyone in the room stared at him. Sasuke raised a brow.

"You _want _him?" the owner asked in disbelief, jaw agape.

"Now, Sasuke, lets not be hasty. There was a reason he was put in there, you know." Sasuke glared at Iruka and the man shrunk back a little, losing his nerve.

"I'll ask again. How much_._" He said more firmly. The small businessman hesitated a bit more before answering.

"Uh...1,000,000 yen." he said weakly.

"That much, huh? Kakashi, that shouldn't be too much, right?" he looked to his owner again, tail twitching angrily and ears flat against his head.

"Sasuke, let's no-"

"Good." he ignored him and walked right passed, going through the door that led to the main shop. "Coming or not?" he yelled back once he was on the other side. Kakashi sighed in defeat. There simply was no arguing with Sasuke once he set his mind on something. Especially something he liked.

--

"What breed is he?"

"Mother was a red fox, father was Fennec and Arctic. Purebred, Uzumaki."

"I see, so what time will he be ready to leave?" Sasuke asked while his master signed the rest of the papers. He was sitting in one of the chairs in the owners office, right leg crossed over his left with his arms crossed, giving off an air of authority. His dark eyes watched as his owner mumbled a string curses while he signed paper after paper.

Wasn't Iruka supposed to be doing some of the signing? Kakashi looked to his right where Iruka was sitting with his face in his hands. Obviously not.

"He should be ready by the end of the day. We need to give him the necessary shots before he leaves." the owner answered.

"That won't be needed. We have our own personal vet that will take care of him." Sasuke replied.

He heard the slamming of a pen and looked strait ahead to see his owner sighing in exasperation. Sasuke just stared at him calmly--defiantly. Kakashi glared at him and the two did nothing for a long while.

Iruka, having finally realized the sudden chill in the air, stood up and placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi relaxed somewhat but continued to glare at Sasuke.

"This is costing you a month's worth of riceballs, you know." Sasuke nodded as his reply. "And creme." Sasuke stiffened for a second and Kakashi smirked. After a moment he nodded stiffly.

"Um...If you don't mind me asking," the owner interrupted. "What breed is your pet?" Kakashi looked back at the man behind the counter.

"Oh, Melanistic leopard, Uchiha."

The young man stared in aw. "He's an Uchiha breed?!" the man exclaimed. "Well, I'm very glad that I got to see such a rare breed! I guess it's a good thing that you choose a fox breed then--if you're planning on breeding him, of course." he added as an after thought. Kakashi cocked a brow.

"And why is that?" the silver haired man questioned.

"Well, I'm not so sure about the Uzumaki breed, but it has been said that foxes, male or female, are excellent breeders. They have their first heat very young, are good mothers, and very seldom do they miscarriage. So I guess there's an upside to this!" the man said hopefully in a hushed tone.

Kakashi looked behind him. It looked as if Sasuke hadn't heard. Good. He didn't need to have his new pet torn up the first day he got it. Sasuke hated anything mentioned about breeding. That's probably the reason he hated females so much.

"And they're able to impregnate any breed, even if they're of the same sex. So, that's also another good thing about having a fox." the man added. Kakashi didn't even bat an eye. He was sure Sasuke didn't even care about things like that.

"So," Kakashi started "What's the fox's name?"

"Naruto."

* * *

Kakashi shifted uncomfortable in his chair. He always hated visits to this place. He didn't know what it was, but something about this place always gave him the creeps. White sterile walls. Blinding lights. Tiled hallways, and the quiet sound of feet scuffling in a faraway hall. He truly hated hospitals. Especially the Konoha school's hospital. It was always empty in this branch, no one ever made visits to Tsunade except him and the other teachers, and those visits were far and few in between. Only the people that attended the Konoha school were allowed to have Tsunade's expertise tried on them. It was like there own little private doctor. Tsunade had retired from being a physician after she had taken over Konoha school when Sarutobi passed away. It was a shame that her talent would go to waste, so she agreed to only treat the pets of Konoha.

Kakashi looked up when the door to the office opened. Out came a blond woman with an overly large chest.

Kakashi stood and addressed the woman. "Tsunade," he greeted with a slight bow. "So, what's your analysis on the fox?"

"Well, he's a brat to start with. Doesn't even know proper etiquette yet. As you said, he's a mix between an Arctic-fennec and red fox, Uzumaki breed. And I'd say he's about nine months old, not yet mature." she said, cleaning her hands off with a white towel. Kakashi covered his face with his hand.

"You mean...He can't even talk yet?"

"Not exactly. He knows a little bit, but not much. He'll probably need some tutoring. You are planning on enrolling him, right?" Kakashi nodded. "Well, how does Sasuke feel about this? Getting a new pet and all?"

"He wasn't happy at first, but he's the one who wanted the fox."

"Really, now? He's that interested in him? I can't say I don't agree with him though. He's a real bundle of energy and very friendly. Beautiful too." Tsunade plopped down in one of the white chairs Kakashi was sitting in before and the masked man followed. "I gave him all his vaccinations, he should be able to go now... By the way, where's Sasuke?"

"I dropped him off at home. He's not going anywhere for a long while, not with how much this one cost. He was half as much as Sasuke."

"I see. If you're ready, you can pick up the fox now and leave." she got up and motioned for Kakashi to follow her through the small door. The first thing Kakashi noticed when he entered was a bright ball of red-orange fur. Naruto was tumbling and turning around frantically on the metal table that was positioned in the center of the room. His small hands were clawing away at his neck, seeming to want something off of it.

Tsunade cleared her throat and the fox's ears perked up. She glared at him, and he went back to sitting on his haunches.

"He doesn't seem to like the collar you got him." Tsunade commented, motioning towards the dark blue, sapphire studded ring around the fox's neck.

"He'll learn to like it. I can't just have him wandering around without one." he walked around the busty blond, and leaned over to get a better look at the young fox. "You said he's not mature yet, right?"

"Yes, why? Is that going to be a problem, Kakashi?"

"No, not at all." the silver haired man squinted his eyes, Naruto looking back at him with the same intensity. "He has a very unique eye color, doesn't he?" he took the boy's chin in his hand to get a closer look. Naruto growled and nipped at him. Kakashi withdrew his hand before he was bitten. "Feisty too." Ignoring the blond boy's growls, he began to scratch behind the fox's ears, earning himself a satisfied purr. The orange tail behind the boy began to wag back and forth.

"I think you might want to get him some new clothes also. That T-shirt seems to be a bit too small."

"Ah," he acknowledged "This one's going to be a handful, huh?"

"Seems like it. But it should be over soon. He's almost a teenager now. One more month and it'll all get easier for you."

"I wouldn't say that Tsunade, Sasuke seemed to get worse. I miss the cute little youngster that used to listen in awe at everything I said." he pouted a little. Naruto seemed to notice this and tugged at the man's hand. He pulled it towards his mouth and began to lick at it. Kakashi chuckled at his child-like behavior. "Small and cute. I wish Sasuke would have stayed that way." Tsunade laughed at him. "Shall we go, Naruto?"

The fox tilted his head, ears flicking with the motion. "Ka...Kashi."

"Know my name already, do you?" his eyes turned into upside down 'u's. "You're a fast learner." the kit yipped happily and hoped down from the table. The boy was small, about 4 feet tall at most.

"A fast learner, yes. Good mannered, no. Now get out of my office before he destroys _another_ of my sake bottles." she glared down at the fox who flattened his ears against his blond matt of fur.

"Yes yes, Tsunade. Just don't drink too much. Have a nice day!" the door was shut in his face. "Ah, that woman can be a handful. So glad I chose my sweet little-"

* * *

"-Iruka!!" Kakashi yelled pathetically, waving his arms in defense.

"What the hell are these Hatake?!" Iruka yelled as he threw another magazine at the man. Kakashi laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"I was going to throw them out! I swear!" he said defensively. "I wouldn't look at anyone but you!" he exhaled when the brunette huffed in annoyance. He looked around. "Ah! Sasuke! Take care of these will you?" he pleaded the feline. Sasuke looked at him from his place in the doorway to the kitchen. He seemed to contemplate it for a second, but shrugged and walked away. "Sasuke!" he sighed in annoyance. What did he do to deserve such a disobedient pet?

"Ah, Iruka...Dear," he added as an after thought. "Why don't _you_ get rid of them? That way you'll know that they're taken care of." he smiled under his mask hopefully. Iruka raised a brow at him, and then nodded his agreement.

"Fine." Swinging his hips a bit, he picked up the large stack of magazines and trotted out the doorway.

Kakashi sighed, then looked around. _'Where did the fox go?'_

* * *

Sasuke sauntered up the stairway to his room. He could care less about some stupid argument between his owner and his mate. Since it happened daily he liked to keep to himself the entire time. He was happy that Kakashi found happiness with someone of his own kind, but it also left him lonelier than usual.

Sasuke's ears flattened. He hated being reliant on others, but he did like the attention he got from Kakashi. With Iruka here he got less and less everyday it seemed.

Just as he was about to open the door to his room, he heard something shatter on the other side. A little bit panicked, he opened the door quickly, the backside of it connecting with his wall.

He stared. Right in the middle of his room was the same fox that Kakashi had just brought home. He thought it would still be downstairs with Kakashi, but he it looked like he guessed wrong.

Slowly, he approached the small boy. The fox backed away, ears flat against his head. A whine escaped the blue eyed boy's lips. He was practically oozing with fear. Sasuke could smell it, along with another scent he couldn't describe.

He carefully got down on his knees and allowed the boy to sniff his hand. The blue eyes darted up to his coal ones suspiciously. With a final sniff he plopped down on his ass and started to groom his tail, completely ignoring Sasuke.

"Hey, you idiot. You can't just come in my room and start destroying stuff. There is such a thing as personal boundaries, ya know."

"I'm...Not an idi-ot," the boy replied. "My...My n-name is...Naru-naruto." with a bit of difficulty he managed to get the last of his words out. Sasuke was a bit shocked, but not completely. He had to learn speech sometime and sooner was better then later.

"If you're not an idiot, prove it."

"Uh..." Naruto puffed out his cheeks in a cute manner and then crossed his arms in frustration. He didn't reply, instead he shifted his eyes to the bottom right of the room. The boy looked back at Sasuke and then back at the mirror he had broken. "Sorry..." the blond boy muttered, ears flat. Sasuke raised his brow. A moment later a deep chuckle filled the room.

The fox looked at the leopard like he was some sort of maniac. Now the stupid cat was laughingat him?! He might not know that much but he knew when he was being humiliated. It wasn't that he didn't _like_ the leopard's laughter--no, he actually liked it very much. It was melodious and deep, and was calming in a way. The thing he didn't like was that he was laughing athim. Naruto--being the stubborn thing he was--kicked the laughing cat.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Sasuke bellowed, holding onto his leg.

When the fox didn't answer, only looked at him, he got down from his kneeling position and sat crossed legged. Naruto continued to look at him innocently, legs spread out in front, tail sweeping behind him like some sort of broom. Sasuke watched the fluffy appendage. It fascinated him that when it caught the right light from his open window it would shine a bit of silver. Sasuke figured it must be from the arctic fox genes in him. That also must've be why he had such large ears, they were almost bigger than his whole head and set off to the sides more. The boy's grin reminded him of Kiba's in a way, teeth flashing like a newly bought diamond.

Sasuke continued to stare, unaware that his tail began to shift behind him also. He loved this boy's eyes. He knew that it was because he was an arctic fox, but the large blue orbs just seemed out of place from the rest of his orange-yellow self. Sasuke found himself drawn to the boy's whisker marks also. He wasn't all that sure about how fox's were, but he was pretty sure that most animals didn't have whisker marks. It was just another thing that made this boy unique.

As Sasuke continued with his staring he failed to notice the footsteps leading right to his bedroom. Kakahsi peeked in his silver head in and smiled. "Ah! There you two are!" Sasuke just about leapt off of his position on the floor.

"Getting better acquainted, Sasuke? Good."

"What is it, Kakashi?" Sasuke said in a clipped tone. Kakashi ignored it.

"Well, I just got off the phone with Tsunade and we have things all planned out!"

"Planned out?"

"Yes! Naruto will start school next Monday right along with you Sasuke! He will have a tutor though, so he can learn to speak better."

"I see. When are we eating?"

Kakashi seemed a bit miffed at his pets behavior. He was almost sure Sasuke would be interested a _little_. Kakashi sighed and then left Sasuke's room, but not before muttering a disappointed "In an hour." on his way out.

When Sasuke was sure the man wasn't within hearing distance he turned back to the fox to find...

...he was gone.

Sasuke looked around himself, slightly panicked. He did not want anything else broken in his room. He searched for a bit around his room before finally realizing there was a lump in his dark blue blanket. He let out a long sigh before crawling next to the lump and shaking it. It refused to move. He shook it more fiercely the second time, and by the third he was practically causing and earthquake. He panted slightly and glared at the lump that was now presumed to be Naruto.

"Will you--"

Sasuke's face fell. The idiot was _s_noring?! Why was he even sleeping?! And in his bed in his room?! He glared so hard he was sure it would cause the covers to burn. When his 'glare and set the moron on fire' technique didn't work, he decided to simply shove him off the bed. He lifted off the covers slowly, making sure this wasn't some stupid prank, and folded the corner off to the side. Just as he was about to shove the boy off, he stopped.

He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do now. I mean, what would you do in a situation like this?

The little fox was curled up, tail acting like a heater of some sort, mouth parted slightly, legs coming up to rest against the creatures chest, and arms hugging loosely to the orange appendage. Every now and again his ears or arms would twitch, indicated that he was dreaming. Unlike a moment before, he was now snoring softly, it sounded quite cute actually. Sasuke's eyes traveled along the smooth curves of the fox's face, lingering on the golden eyelashes that fanned over the boy's perfectly molded cheek bones.

Sasuke was just about to trail his eyes over the rest of the boy before he stopped, looked away, and blushed slightly. It seemed Kakashi still hadn't bought the boy clothes, or anythingfor that matter, because the baggy T-shirt that the boy wore was lifted up a bit, just enough for Sasuke to get a good view of the fox's tanned backside.

He looked away long enough to get his thoughts together and looked back slowly. Naruto was still sleeping soundly, clutching more tightly to his tail because of the chill that the blankets had sealed off before he pulled them away. Sasuke took a large breath of air in and then let it out slowly, willing 'something' to go away. He reached his hand out and pulled the blonde's shirt down, letting it linger there longer than necessary before pulling back.

With the expanse of skin covered he was able to get his bearings together and climb off the bed. He looked back at the blond and then at his door. He was a bit tired. Maybe a little nap wouldn't hurt?

He carefully let himself back on the bed, being careful not to make the fox wake. He lifted the other corner of the blanket and settled himself down--as far away from the boy as possible. After he covered Naruto back up he turned his back towards him and let himself be swallowed up in a vast field of welcoming darkness.

'_Why did I even want this stupid fox...?'_

* * *

**The crappiness of this chapter surprises me...nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Since the beta I had for this originally bailed out, I need one. But there are a few things that someone has to have if they want to beta...**

**1) Animal knowledge. This story has a lot to do with animals...so, yes. This is a must have.**

**2) They must have at least authored more than seven stories/multi-chapped fics. I might not have a lot on here, but I've done at least 30 one-shots ...ahaha. I need someone with experience!  
**

**3) English must be their first language. Sorry...but I'm picky.**

**And that's it...anyone still wanna do it?? I thought not (sweatdrop) I'm perfectly capable of doing this on my own...but I sometimes am very self conscious about what I write and need help most of the time because I'm so horrible at writing XO Sorry for seeming like a picky bitch...  
**

**Thank you so much for reading this!**

**Review?**


	3. Chapter Three: Ah! I Smell a Kiwi!

**OMG, another update, really?! Yes, yes. I _know_ you all love me...!!**

**...**

**Never mind then. ANYWAY! Why don't we all thank the lovely, the magnificent, and amazing...**

**HEAVEN COBRA! 'Cuz without here this whole thing would be slightly better than...I don't know...hay, maybe? But now it makes me giggle and get all fuzzy inside. I hope it makes you that way too :) Thank you to all of you wonderful people who reviewed! **

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

* * *

Sasuke blinked groggily, a shattering sound waking him from a much-needed rest. Thoughts ran into each other, jumbled and unmanageable in the seconds it took him to wake up before he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched his full pink lips in a wide-mouthed yawn. Sadly, this ritual of sunshine and joy that made Sasuke's day a good one - and that hadn't happened in a long time, let me tell you - was interrupted by the thudding of footsteps and a screech fit to wake the dead.

"KAKASHIIIII!!"

Sasuke looked towards his expensively lacquered mahogany door and listened as sounds came through it including more crashing, shattering and sickening crunches that could be heard from all the way up the stairs. The leopard, instead of faithfully leaping down the long set of steps on his lithe runner's legs to go save his master from Iruka's wrath-of-heavenly-destruction, he pleasantly bathed in the glow of daydreams - which were exponentially more realistic due to the screams sounding from the lower level - that included a dismembered Kakashi and a ravenous Sasuke...even quite possibly an innocent young kitten that he could teach his sexy-evil-master-dismembering-ways to.

But, not one to think for too long and spend much of his valuable energy on things that were hardly worth his attention in the first place, he yawned and rubbed his dark left eye again while re-initiating his 'happy-happy-joy-joy' wake-up sequence. When his left eye was satisfactorily cleared of any rubbish that may have collected during his sleep, he tried to move his right hand and give his other eye the same treatment...if not that it was going numb from a heavy pressure weighing the pale appendage down onto the bed. He tried to tug it free, pulling harder and harder until his arm came out and his body was pushed back with the force of the tug, causing him to land on the floor with a small 'oof'. It was not the numbness slowly retreating from his arm, nor the fact that he had just landed on his ass and pulled his tail in the process that made him more than slightly angry - it was that there was someone - or thing - fluffy, making heavy snoring sounds on his bed. Who knows what unspeakable things had worked their way into the it's-his-thing's drool!

_Why the hell is a giant ball of fur in my bed...!?_

In his anger, he climbed up onto the bed only to have the ball of fur roll on top of him. Sasuke's mind took that most opportune moment to freeze his body as the events of the day before came flooding back, the memories conveniently incurring fatigue that caused his eyelids to feel leaden and slowly slip shut no matter how hard he tried to keep them open. Sometimes, meeting new people and waking up with them in your bed wasn't the best thing, and as the thought circuited through his mind he cringed in irritation. Somehow that had come out wrong.

Sasuke felt a blush slowly creep up his neck, staining his pale skin a rosy pink as it brushed over his cheeks. He tried to detach himself from the furry blond, - lest he see the blush - but found that while his flood of memories was overtaking him the ball of fur had wrapped two skinny arms around his waist and had pulled the brunet towards him in a bear hug, all the while nuzzling Sasuke's hip.

At this action, Sasuke flushed even further. The boy seemed to enjoy making him squirm, even in his sleep...Though, once he thought about it, nobody up to this point had been able to make him fidget and writhe the way he did. The little voice in the back of his mind that he had learned to ignore told him that he had never had anyone except his master in his bed, causing him to cringe once more - did his mind ever stop tormenting him?

By this time the leopard's face had returned to its normal color, but he felt himself beginning to get uncomfortable as the small ball of fur started to mold to his shape, seeming as though it was trying to take in his very being by pressing as deeply into his side as possible. The writhing, moving figure pulled him down so that he was lying right next to the boy; he tried pushing the fox away, only to have Naruto wrap a skinny leg and fluffed orange tail around him to add to his discomfort. By the time that Sasuke had given up struggling and had rested his tired limbs for a little while, blood had all but left all other parts of his body in a mad dash to his face.

His efforts to keep the blood at bay were wasted energy; as soon as he had gotten his breath back he tried to wriggle his way out of Naruto's grasp by twisting and writhing in his grip, but it was no use. The amount of effort he put into escaping was not at all worth the amount of ground he gained - which was, essentially, none at all. So busy was he in his struggle for freedom that he did not notice the sliver of rose-veined white and cerulean that appeared and steadily widened, the eyes narrowing and glinting with mischievous delight that was accompanied by a mad grin and a nose in Sasuke's neck. A pleasant, musky aroma filled his nostrils and calmed the raging impish tendencies in his mind...to an extent. The squeezing arms and legs, the twitching tail and the cold nose in his neck, though all wonderful instruments of torture, quickly tipped Sasuke off that his teasing blond companion was awake. This, of course, presented much room for minatory words and laughing threats.

"G-Get off!"

"Mmmooo!" Naruto's protest at his struggles came out muffled.

Sasuke went limp. _This moron just doesn't give up!_ his mind screamed. _And why the hell can he understand me?!_ His mind seemed to be doing a lot of screaming lately...

A sudden thought slipped into his mind, which was doing a bout of aerial acrobatics while being hysterical and somehow still maintaining Sasuke's regular bodily functions. The power of the human mind is amazing. Sasuke, after realizing that his most recent bout of wriggling was getting him nowhere, lay motionless for seconds and contemplated his next move. _What to do, what to do...?_

He was still contemplating the thought when a chilling urge to do something wrong, ill-advised and utterly obscene entered the arena of very likely possibility. Who was he to pass up an opportunity for some excitement?

Before his finer thinking skills could play to his advantage, though, his body moved completely of its own accord...he swears. He tried to think himself out of it, he really did. He just wasn't fast enough. Right. Sasuke glanced haphazardly at the tufts of blond hair tickling his chin and pressed his sharp, well-developed nose into it and inhaled the scent sleepily.

Whatever this fox smelled of, it was more like musk and the unmistakable scent of freshly prepared rice, the clean and filling aroma invading his nostrils with a cool yet fiery intensity. The damn smell! Even though he could identify the main ingredients of whatever was creating that delicious odor, he could not seem to analyze it deeply enough to understand what was lurking just beneath the surface. He glanced at the now-calm being lying on his lap. The horror of not knowing this one, small thing about the fox made him nearly insane with curiosity - and as we all know...curiosity killed the cat. Or, rather, leopard.

Sasuke's eyes slipped shut. He breathed in the mystery-rice-scent sleepily, concentrating on the musk that lined his nostrils. The brunet had smelled other people, pets and everything in between before, so why was it invoking such strong reactions now? The answer avoided him like Pikachu avoiding clear and concise explanations. Or a non-high-pitched form of communication. Damn squeaky toy.

But, back to the fresh-smelling musk. Why did this particular smell make him want to blend his own strongly-scented aroma with it? At the mere thought, he blushed lightly. More cringing followed the light spray of pink. _This fox is going to drive me insane...And I've only just met him!_

Sasuke groaned when he realized the boy had fallen asleep again. He pushed against a tan arm and smiled in triumph when it slipped from his waist, slowly sitting up and removing the boy's heavy limp body from on top of him. Frowning, he wiped at the back of his neck to be greeted with a medium-sized blob of drool. Frowning more heavily now, he wiped the warm liquid running into the folds of the black shirt from his neck with the collar. Sasuke took large, frustrated steps towards the doorway and exited, strolling down to the kitchen for some well-deserved breakfast after all that exertion while quite a bit more cringing ensued. If it is one thing he now knows not to do while walking, it's to cringe. He almost fell down the whole flight of steps! Not to mention missing dinner - especially because of his new 'companion' - had pissed him off greatly.

* * *

Kakashi eyed his pet cautiously, watching and analyzing the predatory glint in his eyes. The feline was definitely more ticked off than usual, sporting an unhappy scowl and eyes narrowed to the point of slits. Sure, the new addition to the family wasn't very...calming, but it was nothing to get seriously pissed off about, or necessarily absolutely hate. Sasuke was the one who'd wanted the damn thing in the first place, and like hell was Kakashi just going to let him say 'let's take it back' and get on with his miserably bratty behavior!

"So...Sasuke." the tall man drawled, excellently masking his doubts and concerns over Sasuke's behavior.

The cat gave him a glare form the corner of his dark eye.

Kakashi shrank back a bit at the intensity of the glance, but continued regardless of the potential physical - and emotional, let's not forget intellectual - consequences. "Looking forward to spring break? You still have this whole week to yourself, ya know. School doesn't start until next Monday. You could," 'And should' came the unspoken words "use this time to better acquaint yourself with your new friend, ne?" he smiled at his pet. Sasuke merely ignored him.

The silver haired man watched as the leopard's tail twitched irritably and Sasuke scooped another spoonful of rice into his mouth. He never did understand why the feline refused to use chop sticks, something about it being too messy and primitive. Kakashi, unlike his pet, rather liked the wooden instruments...they were elegant, messy - sometimes it's a good thing - and very 'versatile'.

Kakashi stared at the chopsticks in his own hand with an amused expression on his face, and glanced over to his chocolate haired lover. Iruka took another spoonful of his white breakfast and immediately seemed to know what Kakashi was thinking, quirking a dark brown eyebrow and rising from the table with his bowl empty of rice. Then, smirking, walked over to the sink and ran the water onto his bowl, running a hand around the inside to get rid of any rice he may have missed during the initial rinsing. Iruka glanced at Kakashi out of the corner of his eye and his dusky pink lips twitched up into a smirk.

Kakashi raised a silvery brow. Could it be...?

Iruka purposefully swayed his hips as he exited the kitchen, looking over his shoulder when he reached the arch of the doorway and winking at the gray-haired man still at the table. 'Oh shit, yes.'

Kakashi's jaw just about fell off. Without a moment of hesitation - or even bothering to wash out his bowl - he ran after Iruka, a line of drool marking his path.

Ah, the joys of makeup sex. Wonderful, ain't it?

--

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, much like Kakashi had done only minutes before. He never would understand the foreign mating rituals of human kind, the complexity of the concept of makeup sex and their strange habits of courting entirely lost on him. If Kakashi wanted to court his mate so bad, then why didn't he? Why wait and ask for permission? If Iruka was already his, then why should he even have to wait until his mate was ready? The seme (he didn't know what it meant, he had just heard Iruka use it to complain sometimes) should have full control of when, where and in what position the mating occurred.

Sasuke shook his head. Humans were some of the strangest things he had ever encountered. He had never had a mate and was more than a little fuzzy on the subject of mating, but he was pretty sure that the courtship and mating process was that the female goes into heat, you court them, mate with them and then do whatever you want with them. Simple process, right? Somehow, though, humans didn't seem to make it so simplistic. Why was it so different with them?

Sasuke sighed and decided to leave the 'complex mysteries of the human race and their courtship/mating rituals' for someone else to figure out. They better make a damn good book on it...his curiosity needed to be sated, but some other day. He groggily stood and washed out both his and Kakashi's bowl, since the man had forgotten to wash it on his own. _Damn stupid, perverted, man..._

When he shut off the water he heard a very dull 'thud' come from upstairs. He looked behind him curiously. Was the fox awake? He set the last dish down next to the other one, glass clinking against glass, and then stalked up the stairs to his room.

He reached out for the handle, completely ignoring the groaning emitting from behind the door next to his and peeked in cautiously. When he saw nothing but the normal order he usually kept his room in, he crept in slowly and watched for any possible signs of attacks that might get him from behind. Dark, bottomless eyes roamed his bedroom for any hint, any sign of that new pet and his possible kidnapper. Sasuke's ears twitched when he heard a sniff from one of the far corners of the area, behind his bed.

He strolled over to the source of the sniffling and stopped. Naruto was sitting in the corner, curled up with his arms and tail wrapped around his knees in a twisted, mutated form of the fetal position. The boy's ears lay flattened and quivering against his golden hair, his eyes wider than saucers and staring straight ahead at blank space. Sasuke kneeled down in front of him, but Naruto's eyes didn't flicker; he waved his right hand before the boy's cerulean eyes and again got no reaction. Frowning, he gently tried to wake - because he had to be sleeping, right? - the blond with a slight shake of the shoulder. When that didn't make the usually-energetic blond move, he tried to speak in hopes that his name or Sasuke's voice might have an affect on his condition.

"...Naruto...?"

"The..." Sasuke raised a slim brow, surprised that it would be that easy.

"'The' what, Naruto?" The fox pointed ahead of him.

"T-the w-wall..is-is..."

"What about the wall?" Sasuke leaned in closer, closer until he could smell Naruto's breath coming out in short puffs.

"I-it's.._moaning_..." He spoke, quivering further into himself as another groan hit his sensitive ears.

Sasuke blinked curiously. _That_ was why he was so scared? They both sat, silent for a second and neither of them uttered a word or sound lest the-

"_KAKASHI_!!" Grunts could be heard through the thin walls, groaning accompanying the slapping of skin-on-skin contact.

Sasuke winced and Naruto bounded onto Sasuke, sending them both to the ground in a heap. The leopard coughed as the wind was knocked out of him and thin arms were wrapped around his neck. He sat up with more than a little difficulty onto his bony elbows and looked curiously at the boy, taking in his eyes that were wide with shock, the slight quivering of his body, the dilated pupils...If Sasuke hadn't known better, he could - and would - have pegged Naruto for someone who had just been surprise kissed...or glomped.

He shuddered. He would definitely like to k-when his eyes widened. Where in the nine hells did that come from? He hurriedly tried to push Naruto off of him, but the blond unknowingly wouldn't let him budge. Images of Sasuke glomping Naruto, his pale body flying through the air and slamming into the blond's was just too hilariously out of character for him, finally making the brunet choke out a muffled chuckle.

That seemed to get the fox's attention. His large colorful ears sprang up from their previous positions quivering on top of his skull and his eyes became harsh, the frightened blue gaze morphing into a full out glare. Naruto pushed himself off of the larger boy's chest and sat on the floor a ways away, crossing his arms and his bushy tail lashing angrily behind him.

"What?" Sasuke asked smartly.

"You...Laughed at...meh 'gain."

"No, I didn't."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the protest. "'astard."

Sasuke stared at the fox. Had he just called him a..."'Bastard'? Where the hell did you learn that?!"

" 'Kashi." the fox said bluntly, the endearingly shortened name catching on Sasuke's radar. That only made the brunet stare harder. The supposed '_idiot_' was only here a few hours and already knew the meaning of '_bastard_'?! He really, really was going to have a hard time accepting this - Sasuke was here two _months_ before he started to learn English and the boy in front of him was here less than two _days_ and was already learning insults from his guardian.

"You already knew how to talk, didn't you!" he yelled accusingly. Naruto winced at the volume of his voice, and Sasuke saw it. "So that's it, isn't it? You _knew_ how to talk, you just didn't want to!" The brunet smirked, treasuring the momentary feeling of victory and righteous anger.

Naruto stuck out his tongue in response.

"You little fucking..." he thought for a moment. "_Dobe_!"

The fox snarled at him and bared his teeth, the insult ticking him off. Sasuke's smirk just got wider.

"You're a fast learner, though, I'll give you that. You might just have to exercise your vocal chords a bit, since you don't really use them, right?" the fox nodded. "Good. I'm glad you're able to learn so fast. Less trouble for me."

Naruto raised his ears at the small hidden compliment and grinned ear to ear, eyes gleaming in barely disguised pleasure at hearing praise from Sasuke, who he had gathered to be an altogether cold person.

This reaction from Naruto, however, made the brunet's heart and head just a little lighter for yet unknown reasons and Sasuke decided to do it again to see if it was just a one-time thing or if he really did like making Naruto happy.

"Keep learning and you might just get as good as me someday." The blond snorted, his countenance contemptuous before soaking in the praise happily. His eyes glowed with happiness and contentment, his smile growing wider with every passing second before he moved to tackle Sasuke to the ground once more. The brunet barely got a chance to throw his arms up in defense before he was bowled over by the eager fox who was now rubbing affectionately against his neck and making the leopard blush deeply and chuckle. That smell invaded his nostrils again, the musk of clean rice and pure sunshine invading his nostrils. Taking a deep whiff of it, he felt Naruto smile into his neck as his blush deepened.

"M ike ma may oo mell..." Sasuke heard the muffle words spoken into his neck, pulling the boy up by the collar of his shirt to get a good look at his face and try to decipher what he had just said.

"What was that?"

"I like the 'ay oo shmell!" the blond boy chirped, a little slower than would be deemed normal, like he was talking to an idiot.

The fox put his head back into the crook of Sasuke's pale neck and began rubbing it with his nose again, taking in the deep scent of the leopard. Sasuke snorted. The boy's blond hair was beginning to tickle, but he liked the way his warm body sat like a radiator on top of his and hummed with vibrance, the aroma of the boy filling his nostrils once again after he had pulled him away. At this rate their smells started to blend and for a split second Sasuke could smell himself on the dobe, a faint scent of vanilla coating Naruto's hair. If anyone smelled it, they would think the worst...!

"Will you quit that!? Why are you doing it in the first place?" Naruto looked up into Sasuke's dark eyes. He opened his mouth to answer, but closed it just as soon as he began to speak. What would he say? Sasuke looked kind of angry.

"I...D-don't know..." Naruto answered finally. He narrowed his eyes, thinking deeply. "I j-just...want to...for s'um reason." he cocked his head to the side in a manner quite similar to a small kitten.

"Well, don't think too hard on it. You wouldn't want to hurt your pretty little head, would you?" Sasuke answered, Naruto shaking his head and not picking out the insult among the compliment, instead he just lay there and glowed with the weight of the three compliments he had so far been given. "Now, get off. I don't want to smell like idiot the whole day."

Naruto pouted and puffed out his cheeks. "Why's 'tat?"

"Well," Sasuke started out slowly, the boy taking it seriously instead of the joke it was supposed to be. "I just don't want to."

"Do I shmell 'ad?"

"No, you smell good actually." Sasuke was surprised at how easily he said that, the fourth compliment coming out as easily as his name and making him feel warm and light inside, as if he was floating on a cloud bathed in the warm sunlight radiating from the sky.

"Ten why don' you wan' to shmell like 'ee?" Naruto's garbled words were barely clear enough to make out, but the confused expression and curious tone was easy to identify.

"Because I'm not your mate."

"'ate? Whassa mate?"

Sasuke blushed at the question. "Uh...Why don't you go ask Kakashi? He knows more than I do about it. He already has a ma--"

The brunet was about to finish his informative lecture on why the blond should go ask Kakashi instead of bothering Sasuke with his silly questions, when a rather heavy - when did he get so hefty? - weight was lifted off of his chest and cool air descended upon the spot where the warmth suddenly became absent. He looked behind him abruptly to see Naruto running hurriedly out the door, his tail bouncing up and down to keep his balance and fluffed in excitement.

"HEY! Where are you going?!"

"'Kashi!" Came the response from across the hall, Naruto already having reached the bedroom and knocking heavily on the door. The brunet's attuned ears caught a small string of curses and the sound of a door creaking open a few seconds later. They were carrying on a conversation in the middle of a hallway, and Sasuke was able to pick out Naruto's higher voice from Kakashi's deeper alto - the back-and-forth sounded like a sitcom without the canned laughter and with lower volume and much less sarcasm.

"Yes, what is it?" Kakashi kept his tone civil.

"I wan' ashk a kestion!" Naruto.

"You mean 'question', right?" Kakashi.

"Yeah! A kestion!" Naruto. He heard a grunt, probably from Kakashi.

"What is it Naruto?" Mild hesitation and mumbling, probably from Naruto. Kakashi doesn't mumble.

"What's a...'m...ate'?" There was silence and Sasuke could almost see the eyebrow that Kakashi probably quirked in response to the curiously phrased question.

"Why the sudden interest, Naruto?" Ah, the wonder of skepticism and interrogation of the innocents. The concept was just...exhilarating.

"Well, me and Shashke were 'alking, and he shaid he didn' wan' shmell like ee 'cause I washn' his... mate. He shaid to go ashk you wha' one wa', and that you 'ready had one. Who's your 'ate 'Kashi?" Kakashi said nothing for a moment, probably trying to decipher what Naruto had just said. These pets weren't easy to understand when their tongues were all twisted up from embarrassment and not knowing how to speak, especially if they were so busy glaring at you that they did nothing else for a few days...

An image of Sasuke flashed through his mind, the brunet as a kitten was so endearingly cute that he chuckled lowly, remembering the way his ears would twitch in irritation and those glinting black-red eyes of his drew in the whole room to his presence. He was still thinking back to tiny Sasuke, how small he had been when a slight humming drilled into his ears, the sound soft and soothing in his thoughts.

"Well, Naruto, a mate is someone that you really like."

"Like? I like Shashke a 'lil. Why don' he like me?" Sasuke blushed slightly at the comment, the rosy pink dusting his pale cheeks for the umpteenth time that day.

"This is a different type of like, Naruto. It's much, much stronger - like you never want to let the person go - and usually between a male and female."

"Oh..."

"Don't be down though. I'm sure Sasuke likes you too. And, as for who my mate is, I think you can already figure that one out for yourself. You're pretty smart, aren't you?" Naruto glowed at the compliment, countenance lighting up in happiness. "I-i's smart!" he exclaimed exuberantly. Kakashi, glad that he had momentarily made the blond happy, turned to leave before he felt a slight tug on the pair of sweatpants he had hurriedly pulled on when he heard that knock on his door.

"I-ish yo-or 'ate Eryuka?"

He heard his silver-haired keeper chuckle and the soft sound of ruffling hair, Kakashi probably petting the fox for his fine observation. "Yeah."

"But...I thought you shaid it hash to be a girl and a boy..."

"Not all the time. I said most of the time, Naruto."

He heard Naruto's voice become brighter. "Oh, 'kay!" there was a pause. "And...I think your houshe is haunted...like ghosts, you 'no? Your 'alls 'ere... _moaning_, 'Kashi."

There was another, longer pause before Kakashi thought of a suitable explanation. "Well, I think you're right, Naruto. I think we should teach these...'ghosts' a lesson. Right away." Sasuke presumed Naruto was nodding exuberantly at the gray-haired man's 'good' idea.

"'urry 'Kashi! It's really loud too, I think they're 'ad at you. One of them yelled 'Kakashi!' !" Sasuke had to laugh at that. Naruto really was too innocent for his own good, despite being almost physically mature.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I'll make sure to keep 'em quiet." his owner replied. There was a last bit of the conversation that he didn't catch, but he did hear the sound of a door shutting and footsteps padding into his bedroom and the slight creak of the door. Naruto popped his head into the room and was smiling happily while plopping down in front of Sasuke, his tail swishing side to side happily and his ears flicking excitedly. Once again, with every effervescent swish of th fox's tail, the clean-smelling aroma of just-cooked rice and musky sunshine filled the air.

"'Kashi told me... I don' really get it, but okay." he smiled. "And...w--hy am... I here? What... 'appened to my 'ol home?"

Sasuke shrugged and sighed slightly. "We bought you. This is your home now."

Naruto nodded as if he understood perfectly and they sat in silence for a few more moments, but the blond's mind was working furiously. He didn't know what was going on, really, all he knew that was he'd met and taken a shine to Sasuke, and suddenly he was in a new place with new noises, sounds smells and sights that made him more than a little nauseous. Even with the nausea, however, he was also really happy at the same time. This nausea was kind of a happy-sick feeling. No one had ever paid this much attention to him before - at once, or cumulatively throughout his whole life - and it felt good.

The only thing he was actually worried about was that Sasuke was confusing to him. Not in the 'who is he?' way, but more in the way that he couldn't understand why he was so well-mannered, intelligent and good-looking. The thing that confused him about all of these was that no Hybrid this...this sophisticated had ever paid him more than a single glance, always turning up their noses at his odor, his personality...even his appearance. They would always act like they were a few steps above him in the evolutionary ladder, like he couldn't handle talking, or even looking at them. Sasuke wasn't like this, though he had every right to be as snobbish and arrogant as they did - even more, probably. He was so much more than they were, yet he looked towards Naruto as a companion, an equal. It was so new and yet so welcome at the same time...

Sasuke was also really smart, more intelligent than any Hybrid he had ever known or ever heard of! He could listen, understand and communicate with his owners like he was one of them and nobody thought he was a freak for it. Everyone back at his old home had thought he was strange; that he was so weird for having the capacity to speak to and understand their keepers and made fun of him for being intelligent - it helped if he just kept his mouth shut. Nothing ever happened to him that way.

Completely oblivious to Naruto's contemplative state, Sasuke was being troubled by his own thoughts. His hands were itching, burning to touch something and he couldn't hold on to himself, his lungs screaming with the effort it took not to bury his sensitive nose into Naruto's fiery fur and inhale that powerfully pleasurable scent.

Finally giving in to his body's needs, he inhaled deeply and eyed the fox with a dark, flint-sharp eye as he crawled towards the other Hybrid, his ears twitching with curiosity. Just close enough, now, he reached out and brushed Naruto's ears hesitantly, faintly but gained confidence as Naruto leaned slightly into the touch. Sasuke got immeasurably closer until he was holding the blond in his arms, combing through his golden locks with slow, measured movements and inhaling his scent deeply. Licking his suddenly-dry lips, he began to rub Naruto's perky ear cautiously with his fingers.

Naruto started, the touch sending his mind into full alarm before he settled into the brunet's lap and purred loudly. The head he was stroking ever-so-gently rubbed and moved against his hand and their breaths settled into a measured, yet somehow erratic pace as Sasuke inhaled deeply one more time. He smelled so good.

Naruto's tail waved faster, faster into the air as it made snapping sounds like a flag in a fast breeze. There was an aroma, and the only way that it could be described was that it was hot, just filling Sasuke's nostrils with an erotically warm, sweaty smell. The brunet's eyes slipped slowly shut and he inhaled deeply, faster, he couldn't help it. The aroma was just so passionately, intensely intoxicating that he couldn't break away from their position.

The blond's back arched deeply as he let out a small mewl, allowing Sasuke to slip his hand to the small of the boy's back and lower. The fox's back arched into the touch, back from its previous position and began whimpering slightly with each sweat-coated stroke Sasuke's hand applied to the soft tan skin covering his muscles.

"Sha...suke.." Naruto panted, his breath puffing in short bursts as he buried his forehead into Sasuke's dark shirt. "Y-you shmell s-so...good..."

Sasuke nodded sleepily, his eyes slipping shut as if weighted with lead. "You too." He inhaled once more, deeply until his lungs were full of the intense aroma before roughly pushing the blond onto the ground and pinning his arms to the coarse white carpet and observing that Naruto's cerulean orbs were half-lidded and hazy, the tail still waving wildly and his ears flattened harshly against his skull. The fox struggled nearly wildly in attempts to turn Sasuke over onto his back so that he could do...do what, exactly? He wasn't sure, but if it would release this caged heat inside of him it had to be something he wanted. Sasuke, though, was still quite a bit larger than him so Naruto only succeeded in rocking them into each other and, as their body heat mixed, they felt each other covered with their own, special scent that further intoxicated the brunet. Nervously, heatedly, he lowered himself onto Naruto again and the blond's cloth-clad legs wrapped around his torso almost automatically.

* * *

"What did Naruto want...?" Iruka asked, his dark brown eyes following Kakashi's figure as he moved, once more, towards the bed.

"He wanted to know what a mate was, and to talk to me about the ghosts in my house."

"Ghosts...?" Iruka quirked an eyebrow. They had never been bothered by ghosts before as far as he knew.

"Yes," Kakashi answered calmly, a small smile spreading on his face. "Seems they were really very angry with me and decided to voice their concerns by moaning my name." Iruka blushed next to him immediately, finally understanding. He muttered a lame "Oh." and laid back down on the mattress. The phone rang downstairs and Kakashi got up to answer it.

He picked up the phone, holding it close."Yes?"

"Kakashi." a feminine voice spoke on the other line, authority radiating even over the phone.

"What a nice surprise, lady Tsunade. What brings us this precious gift of a call from you?" Kakashi joked, his sarcasm not lost on the woman that was on the other side of the phone.

"Can it Kakashi. I called about Naruto. We just got a more defined analysis of his tests."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, seems the mother had some Fennec in her as well. I don't really know how that can be possible, though. Most purebreds only have one or two breeds in them. And if it's true that your fox is an Uzumaki breed the Fennec could have canceled out that nasty side effect." she paused for a moment and continued in a softer voice. "I'm guessing that someone with a top notch understanding of Hybrids and how to breed them did this...and I have one guess who."

Kakashi was hesitant before trying to ask her, if the silence on the line was any indication. "Orochimaru...?" the other line went completely silent, and Kakashi was sure she had hung up and was about to do so himself until she spoke in a controlled tone that did not belie any hidden emotions.

"Yes." he heard a sigh before she continued. "There is a brighter side though. Unless you don't consider it bright, that is."

"What?" he asked, slightly curious as to what she was hinting at.

"The fox is in heat. It's his first so you should separate Sasuke from him. Naruto's too small for-" Kakashi hung up the phone and rushed back upstairs, not bothering to listen to the rest of her informative speech.

He rushed up the stairs, almost leaping to two steps at a time to make it there faster, when he finally got to Sasuke's floor and rushed into the landing. Bursting into Sasuke's room, he could only heave a sigh at his natural instincts and take in the sight before him in a slightly panicked, slightly defeated way. Kakashi not only saw, but smelled faintly the two animals - one without a shirt and the other panting on top of him, eyes too hazy with lust to probably even understand what he was doing.

Kakashi took a small, cautious step closer and reached his hand out to Sasuke who only hissed in a feral manner at him in return. The brunet, who was on top, glared at him and bucked his hips into Naruto, stuffing the smaller boy under him as he did so. It was surprising how much of the blond was obscured beneath the leopard, only an orange tail and a few blond strands sticking out of the defensively dominant grip. He took another step closer and Sasuke hissed again, louder, far more like the beast he represented and flattened his ears against his skull and his lips curled back onto his sharp canines, causing Kakashi to lift his hands up in self-defense and jump a tiny bit when Sasuke continued to growl as he drew nearer to the pair.

"Sasuke, let me have Naruto." Kakashi's voice was calm, meant to soothe the angry brunet.

"No." the leopard bit out fiercely.

Kakashi sighed tiredly, rubbing his nose as he felt a headache coming on. This was turning out as such a hassle, he might even have to use the tranquilizer gun that hadn't been touched since Sasuke's first day of school-- when a house cat named Sakura had kept harassing the brunet to mate with her and Kakashi had had to resort to using the tranquilizer gun and put Sasuke to sleep before the leopard lost control and dismembered the poor girl. But, in the end, he had only had to use it once and Sakura had known her boundaries after that - not to say any other Hybrid wouldn't have found her attractive, her pink hair and jade green eyes captivated the eye and drew attention to her milky pale skin that glowed with health. Sasuke just didn't like her too much.

Looking over his fingers now, Kakashi saw the figure under Sasuke shift and start to struggle, seemingly impatient with the current arrangements. A moment later the blond head poked out of the brunet's grip and shone a ray of hope directly into Kakashi's dark world. Maybe he could...Nah, it wasn't possible, unless...the man decided to try it, patting his thighs in an attempt to call the small blond to him. Luckily, this hope prevailed and the smaller boy gave a heavy push and managed to slip out of Sasuke's strong grip in a slick move, grinning happily all the while.

The brunet, on the other hand, having been left growled deeply and ferally even though Naruto remained next to him and their shoulders nearly touching. Even with the slight space in between them, Sasuke seemed to calm down noticeably - his ears perked up slightly, his tail wasn't nearly as stiff and his eyes were softer, a slight rosy pink flushing his features. It took him a few moments, but Sasuke came back to himself, blinking, after the blond had moved away even slightly.

The brunet looked around, craning his neck to take in all of his surroundings and sat up, brushing imaginary dirt from his legs. He cleared his throat and looked at Naruto, the flush on his features deepening with the glance. Luckily, Naruto didn't notice and had no idea what had just almost happened and Sasuke was more than slightly thankful for it. He wouldn't begin to be able to live down the embarrassment and self-shame of succumbing to his primal urges, reduced to no more than one of those filthy brainless Hybrids that couldn't speak. Uchiha-fucking-Sasuke (how appropriate, his mind added, causing another bout of cringing) did not have the sudden urge to pound an animal into the nearest floor, bed, wall, shower, sink and any other surface that could possibly stand up to the force of their activities...or wanting to be the receiver of what he had just described, and his mind had just visualized.

His face turned an even brighter shade of red, not to be mistaken for a blush. He just had a fever...he wasn't sure he was feeling well yesterday, after all. Why else would he have wanted a companion?

"Take care of the fox..." he muttered to Kakashi. "And keep it away from me." he added as an after thought. Sasuke sent a last, venomous glare at the animal and in turn received an equally vicious but more than slightly less frightening glance.

"S-stupid cat." Naruto barely stuttered, such was his conviction in these words.

"Damn fox." he retorted and stormed out the door, glaring at Kakashi on his way out - which, indeed, was very hard to take seriously as his face was as red as a tomato and his legs were shaking, knees and arms weak as jelly with every stride he took. Naruto, instead of following the brunet out the door and storming off in a huff, crawled up to Kakashi and gave him a miffed but curious look.

Kakashi chuckled at the expression, eye twinkling in amusement as he immediately knew the thoughts running through the blond's mind."Don't take all the things Sasuke says to heart, Naruto. He usually isn't very open with anyone. Insults are his only means of communication." he gave Naruto a half-smile - well, at least the blond thought it was a smile. It could have been a smirk or a frown, who knows? It's really kind of hard to tell when he has that dark mask on all the time - and then turned on his heel, walking out the door.

Naruto padded over to the bed, nestling into the covers and curling into a ball. He noted that it smelled like the bastard and shifted uncomfortably, the smell nearly overriding his senses. Now, surrounded with the comforting - yet exciting - scent, Naruto took this spare time to sift through his thoughts on his new home so far.

He didn't like Sasuke, that much was sure. His first impression had been wrong - the leopard was an arrogant, conceited bastard that was just very unpleasant to be around. From his smell, though, females probably fawned over him like flies to honey and the brunet was probably the type that everyone would love because he looked half-decent.

_More than half decent. _his mind argued with him, trying to throw in his face that a second ago he would have bled and died for the so-called 'arrogant jerk'. Now, though, that he was out of the room Naruto had time to actually think this through and came to the conclusion that Sasuke was just like all of those other royally idiotic pure bloods and noblemen, reeking of superiority and intelligence. These qualities came with the label of 'pure' and Naruto had never quite seen it so specially formatted as with Sasuke. The leopard was...he didn't know how to describe it. A pleasing, yet foul blend of regality and condescending superiority that made him shiver with delight.

This feeling brought him to his next point of dislike and one of his problems with the leopard. He disliked Sasuke, yes, but there was another, large part of him that admired and envied him. The brunet was beautiful, his stance and flowing grace absolutely radiating 'sexy' and 'beautiful' all at the same time - Naruto envied him, from the tips of his beautifully dark ears to the end of his rippling, graceful tail. The blond then noticed the tip of his fluffy orange tail twitching, the white hairs interlaced with the fiery orange reflecting the light beautifully, luxuriantly. He quickly stopped the slight movements with his hand.

Why were thoughts of that arrogant bastard making him so anxious? And that scent, oh that scent that made him so excited and out of breath, that got his heart thumping like a racehorse in his chest and a tight heat coiling and simmering in the pit of his stomach that made him break out in a delicious sweat. Damn, it didn't make sense to him that he wanted so much more of it.

He sniffed the air lightly, breaking out of his sea of thoughts when he noticed the smell that he had wanted so much more of was almost gone completely. He purred in delight as he breathed in the last of it, but felt terribly empty when it was all gone. The aroma was still Sasuke's scent, but it was somehow...more desirable than the brunet's own odor, just kind of more...arousing? Naruto couldn't find a word strong or emphatic enough to describe the feeling of airy lightness it gave him. Naruto blinked. Did he really know the leopard's scent that well already? He had only been here for less than a day and he was already picking out which scents were and weren't the brunet's...that wasn't supposed to happen, was it?

Naruto's tail was twitching again, and he clamped a hand down on it to stop the small movements before burying his nose in the blankets. This was going to be a long day.

Lifting himself from the bed, he decided - due to the grumbling in his tummy - that now would be a good time to go get some delicious food. But, there was one problem. Where was the food? In the pet store it was usually a little bit of bread and cheese, and on rare occasions a little meat with a little tin bowl of water. If there was no one to bring him his food now, where would he get it? Or, did he ask someone to get it for him? Did he ask his owner? Sasuke? His owner's mate that Sasuke had mentioned? What was his name...Iruka? Yeah, that was the name that he was looking for. Who out of those people did he go to for food?

The questions paraded through his mind one after another as he thought carefully about what to do. Jogging quickly down the stairs, his empty stomach growled and he looked around the overly large house, wondering why two people and a pet needed so much space to live in, when a place half this size would have been just as comfortable, if not more so. At least having a smaller place would get rid of the lonely, cold feeling that the large house surrounded him with. Humans were so hard to understand sometimes.

A small hand skimmed across the railing, the contrasting colors mesmerizing him on his descent and he glanced at the high ceiling, eyes trailing the dome shape of it and the spotless white paint. So enraptured was he, however, that he didn't notice the body coming up the stairs towards him, chocolate hair bobbing in a high ponytail until it was too late. They bumped together with a thud and Naruto fell on his butt with a small 'oof', much as Sasuke had in the morning.

"Oh! Hey there... Um..." Naruto noted the pause - it seemed that the brunet was casting around desperately for his name and his expression told of when he finally seized it. "Yes!" He whooped, unaware of a curious glance from the blond. "Naruto's your name, right!?" the blond nodded at the strange man. "Uh...Are you..." The fox's stomach growled, causing Iruka to chuckle. "...Hungry?" the blonde nodded energetically and the brunet smiled. "Well then, whaddaya want?"

The fox thought for a moment. Again, Iruka chuckled lightly.

"Then how about some ramen?" The fox tilted his blond head in a slightly curious gesture, not knowing what Iruka meant by 'ramen'. "I'm sure you'll like it."

"'Kay, Eryuka."

"Still learning, huh?" the fox pouted, put out that the man could so easily tell that he wasn't used to speaking the language. "Don't worry I'm sure you'll do just fine. Do your best!" he reached down and patted the blonde on the head, ruffling his fur and scratching behind his ears gently. "Let's get you some ramen!"

Naruto grinned widely and nodded exuberantly.

* * *

**SasuNaru lovers: O.O... XD!!**

**NaruSasu lovers: ...T.T**

**Ahahahahaha...don't worry! There will be plenty of both..! After Naru grows a little. I actually find it kind of funny that the smaller one will be smexing the hell outta the bigger kitty in a lil bit...  
**

**So...SasuNaru peoples enjoy! NaruSasu peoples...ah, patience is a virtue...? -gets mauled by fans-**

**PS: I think I have a name for things like this too...Ya know, those little moments where they aren't quite lemons but not limes either?**

It will be called...

A kiwi.

**Remember to send me and HC your love! X3 X.x**

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	4. Chapter Four: Bathtime for Baby?

**I... I have to apologize for the lack of updating this fic. Things got in the way, I wasn't really inspired to write it...and, well, that's passed now and just as I've started to edit it again I found my inspiration for it. As OOC as this started and still is, I really like it. The people that have supported it are also to blame for that. You all make me want to continue on it. Thank you all so much! Reviews really do make a difference in an author's perspective.**

**Now, characterization isn't my strong suit. But I still try. Right now Naruto still has a young perspective on things since he's not mature yet, but he's getting there. And the 'heat' they both went into will be elaborated on further, as males can't go into heat. There _is_ an explanation to that though! So don't fret if it doesn't seem logical now...it'll all come together, promise.**

**Thanks to Heaven Cobra for beta'ing! Love ya bbcakes~ Any mistakes left are all my own.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, I simply borrow them. It's just a horrible coincidence that I don't make any money off it either.**

**Warnings: Nothing really to warn except for young!Naruto and slightly OOC!Sasuke, but only at the end. Comic relief? That's what the anime producers decide to lean on, anyway.**

**Please enjoy. 8D**

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HYBRID: CHAPTER FOUR  


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Naruto decided that he really liked Iruka. He'd already known the man was nice before, but now he saw who the brunet really was and immensely liked the conversations they had.

Well, they weren't really conversations—they were more like Naruto listening to Iruka and then making a fool out of himself by trying to respond to question that he wasn't even sure he knew the meaning of. He knew what words he wanted to say, had the structure, but he just couldn't get them out in the way he wanted them to, and it was quite frustrating for him to come off as so naïve—childish, even. They would always be scrambled around or too jumbled to even understand anything of what he was trying to say. Talking to Sasuke for so long seemed like a lucky fluke to him...and his throat still hurt from the talking. One had to wonder why his time of eloquence would had to have come around the bastard.

That was when Iruka had said he'd help him learn more, and it made Naruto extremely happy to know someone was actually praising him for being able to understand. Heck, he was even trying to teach him to be better at it. No one had ever wanted him to learn more—quite the opposite, actually. That was why he was locked up in that 'cell' before, as Iruka had put it. He had been too intelligent and would often offend some of the customers he didn't like that would come in to buy a new pet. They were looking for looks and something they could command, not something that could mouth off and be disobedient.

"So..." Iruka started. "Purse your lips—gather up a little bit of air behind them...and then let it out in a short burst."

Naruto tried mimicking the instructions as best he could and attempted to do it better this time. "...Buh..."

Iruka beamed proudly at him, a small smile that spoke millions more to Naruto than the actual words. "There you go!"

The fox waved his tail around happily and grinned as wide as he could (which it turned out was very wide indeed). "...getting 'e....b--etter...?" he asked slowly, making sure to make the 'B' sound correct. Iruka nodded and Naruto sighed, relieved.

_This is goddamn hard!_ he cursed in his mind. He felt like punching something, but tearing something apart was a very close second in the means of letting out frustration, and that pillow was looking very tempting. His fingers tapped relentlessly on the counter and he replayed everything he'd learned in this short meeting with Iruka. Better grammar, enunciation, and then some more big words he sure as hell wouldn't be remembering any time soon. Hard, but he knew he had to learn these things if he ever had a hope of shoving everything he learned in Sasuke's face. He grinned at the thought, picturing the bastard's shocked expression. Gleefully, he tapped his fingers together and snickered while thinking of how the brunet would flush, stutter and gladly let himself be pinned down so that Naruto could—wait, what? He blinked rapidly, still grinning, which made him look excessively creepy.

Iruka looked down at the grinning pet, raising a curious brow before dismissing it, and sat up from the table they were currently occupying, striding loosely over to the sink to wash their empty ramen bowls. "I'm surprised you know this much. Most Hybrids aren't even capable of talking, and you're already this far along. Tell me, Naruto, who taught you?"

The blond thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "Keeper. He...he always...would talk to...me." he smiled. He was still struggling with sentence structure, but at least he was getting all the words. "Even whe--when...his boss told him...not to."

Iruka smiled absently as he washed the bowl under the spray of the lukewarm water. "I suspected he was a kind-hearted soul... I'm sure you'll do fine at the school if I practice with you for the rest of break." After he was done he sat back down at the table, wiping his hands absently on his jeans. "So...how are you getting along with Sasuke?"

Naruto scowled. "No like 'im."

"You mean 'I don't like him', right?" Iruka corrected gently. The fox nodded. "Why? He was the one who set you free, remember?"

The other just continued to scowl as he thought of the house's other hybrid. He had liked Sasuke when they first met, but now that he realized how foul a person he was, he wasn't so sure now. Naruto looked away. "Mean..."

"Ahaha," Iruka chuckled gently. "Well, that's just the way he is! You'll get to like him, I'm sure. The prickly thing can get really affectionate if you rub him the right way." Iruka hoped Sasuke wasn't listening in on their little conversation—if he was, the brunet was sure he would not be seeing the light of day the next morning. Either that or he would be avoided like the plague.

Naruto laughed. "Mm...hm. He was friendly when I ferst...got 'ere," the fox mused. "But he doesn't like...that I can talk now...."

"Ah, Sasuke probably feels intimidated. You did learn pretty fast—faster than Sasuke at least—and I don't think anyone has ever had a brighter mind than that leopard of Kakashi's. He's brilliant." Iruka had a thoughtful expression for a few moments; he looked down at Naruto's pouting face and laughed. "But you've almost beat him. If you keep this up I'm sure you'll be able to talk in fuller, more pronounced sentences in a few days." He leaned down to ruffle Naruto's hair gentle, smiling. The fox laughed giddily.

Naruto smiled outwardly, but inside he was cackling evilly. He wasn't sure why he wanted to be better than Sasuke—the attitude could have something to do with it—but he wanted to succeed in catching up to the other. And, the goal seemed to make his life a little less bleak and a small part more exciting, especially when he thought of finally throwing it all in Sasuke's face and rubbing it in until those pretty little lips were bruised and he was panting so harshly that he couldn't scream out—.

"Hey, Naruto," Iruka asked out of nowhere, sliding his hand over his ponytail and tugging out the band. The blond lifted his head from his musing, a slight tinge of pink flooding his cheeks. The man continued, "Do you want to go to the park, perhaps?"

The fox's ears twitched up as far as they could go as his tail started to wave across the floor in unsuppressed excitement. He was feeling energetic but at the same time everything was kind of hazy, and he felt as if he could run miles without stopping.

Iruka took that as a silent 'yes' and got up, not bothering to clean up the strewn papers that were collected on top of the table, piled in a haphazard manner. He still had a lot of papers to grade... He would probably have to let up a bit on the assignments. It seemed his students could get the work done faster than he could grade it.

That thought struck up some concerns in Iruka's head. _Will Naruto really be able to handle school? And this soon...? He's barely used to my presence, I can tell he's a little nervous...and what about the learning? He's not nearly as progressed as the others are._

The man stopped himself for a second. _Maa, I'm just thinking too much of Sasuke. He's the one in advanced classes. Naruto will probably never make it there, despite his speedy progress. Even I don't understand all that's taught in that class. I wonder how Kakashi manages to help..._

He smiled down at the fox and offered up a big grin. The animal smiled back and stood up, frowning when he noticed the height difference. Iruka chuckled and patted the fox on the head, Naruto's airy—yet coarse—hair drifting between his fingers. "Don't worry, Hybrids usually grow fast. You'll be tall in no time at all!"

Naruto smiled, but this time it seemed less excited, his eyes darting away unsurely. He hated being small, and since Sasuke was so tall already...well; he wanted to hurry up and grow already! Of course, he never expected to be the size of a human—he knew from being one and staying around them so much that humanoid pets like him usually only got up to shoulder height or much less of a common sized human—he just wanted to be able to match up to Sasuke. Being this short was degrading, in a way. Being shorter than the brunet meant that if he ever got in a fight with Sasuke he'd be the one to lose ten times over. And, he could never properly kiss the other pet unless—what the hell?

Iruka observed his pet closely. _Well, if we do go somewhere....He'll probably need a bath..._ he looked at the stairs, all the while contemplating his actions. A bath would be good for the fox since he most likely never got one before, but how did he go about doing it? Sasuke had already been taught how to bathe himself a long while ago, the fact that he was feline did nothing to dilute the want to be clean, and Kakashi wasn't there at the moment having left to go and get some school supplies for their new addition.

Iruka himself was virtually clueless when it came to Hybrids. It was only after he met Kakashi that he had one as a pet and Sasuke was so well behaved that he really didn't need any taking care of like the ones he had been used to seeing at train stations, parks, work offices sometimes... Well, except for the various grocery-related needs, and the necessities that only Kakashi could provide. Iruka was a teacher at a school that taught pets, but he didn't know anything about taking care of such creatures. Teaching them was one thing, taking care of, another. What to do, what to do…

"Iruka?" Naruto looked at the man curiously while resisting the urge to tilt his head—being told he was cute wasn't something he wanted, and he was sure Iruka would think it again even if he didn't voice it. And what was wrong with his owner? Why did he look like he was constipated?

The chocolate haired man shook himself out of his daze. "Oh, nothing. What do you say to getting a bath, Naruto?" He might as well ask, for starters, just to make sure Naruto didn't know anything about it.

And just like he thought, the fox had no clue. "Bath?" What the hell was a bath? This time he couldn't help but cock his head slightly to the side.

"It'll make you smell nice, and make you feel very warm and clean."

Naruto froze. Now he definitely didn't want a 'bath'. If it was anything like what Sasuke did to him, he wanted nothing to do with it. He was foggily aware of what happened, but he was sure it was degrading because it made him feel very small. He had felt warm—not necessarily clean—but it made him smell funny too. He was still arguing as to whether it smelled nice to him or not, but as it had to do with Sasuke he was leaning more towards the 'ew' than paying attention to the flipping his stomach did whenever he got a whiff of it.

"Naruto? Is there something wrong?" the man asked worriedly. He was spacing out a lot.

The blond shook his head. "No. No bath."

Iruka was confused now. "So, you do know what one is?" Okay, that was going to make this more difficult. He didn't want to force the small fox to take one, but really he had no choice. If he wanted to go out and go to school he would have to take a bath regularly.

The pet scowled. "No." He just didn't want one, that was all.

"Oh, well...then don't you want to find out what one is?"

Naruto hesitated, his curiosity was getting the better of him but if this had anything to do with Sasuke he wasn't going through with it. So, he nodded in slight reluctance and let himself be lead up the stairs and to a room he had never been in before, which wasn't saying a lot because most of the other rooms he hadn't been in either. Just....Sasuke's and Kakashi's shared one with Iruka. He wasn't really that interested in that, considering all the other things he had yet to discover. Like the strange noise making machines that hindered just about every room.

Iruka let Naruto sit in a stool off to the side while he started to prepare the fox's bath. Most of the stuff he needed was already in and waiting to be used, but the towels were in the laundry room and so were some of Sasuke's older clothes that he thought might fit Naruto. He left the room—after telling the blond not to touch anything—and then went to his destination.

In the bathroom, Naruto sat on the small stool he was told to and stared at the large room, leaning precariously on the back legs of the stool looking around. There was a round hole in the floor at the center that he was sure could easily fit five people, though it was a bit shallow. Inside there were white with holes on the sides of it—which was very confusing to the fox; wasn't the point to have a hole to store things?—and then a larger one in the far corner of it on the bottom. Two crystal handles were at the edge of it, a spout in-between them, and then some weird bars and bottles with different shades of liquid inside them contrasting to the black tub. In fact, now that he looked around, the entire décor of the room was a shiny onyx.

Startled, he looked up as a drop of water came down from the ceiling, landing in the center of the hole. Above it was a metal, square platform with a circle made of many tiny holes within it. Some other droplets of water made their way down, falling perfectly into the hole below.

And to add to the superiority that this room screamed, the whole place was absolutely spotless. He could practically see the surfaces of everything glittering and sparkling in the way only something new could. How many times had this room been used? Never? It sure seemed that way. Naruto himself thought it looked nice, but he wouldn't want to do anything in here. Playing was out of the question because it looked like there were a lot of expensive things in here. Eating? No. Conversing? Maybe, but then where would the people sit? Certainly not in the gaping, round, white thing.

But then what was it used for? Maybe for this 'bath' thing? What was a bath anyway? He wanted to know, and Iruka was taking forever! His tail started to wave in frustration, sweeping across the clean, tiled white floor.

As his tail waved his eye caught something from the very corner of his vision. His head turned to his left, and almost screamed at what he saw. Instead, he just fell out of his seat and landed with a heavy 'slap' when his hands met the cold surface of the tiles. A wince spread through his body and the fox sat up slowly, rubbing his abused bottom. His hands gripped the edge of the counter that he hadn't noticed before as he peeked over it to peer closer to what freaked him out. His reaction was a little less to what it was before, just slightly more in awe than anything else.

In front of him was a smooth, reflective surface. It was large, as long as the long counter that held another, smaller white hole with the same attributes as the larger one behind him—minus the things above it. It was also tall, he noted, almost reaching the top of the high ceiling.

That wasn't what amazed him though. What he was completely baffled about was the thing being reflected in the large thing. What was that? And why was it staring at him like that? Was there something on his face?

He moved his hand up to touch his cheek, and surprisingly, so did the other. He paused in his actions and moved his hand again, watching in amazement as the one watching him did the same.

He smiled, and so did the other. Huh, who knew he was that amazing? His tail started waving again, but not in anger or impatience.

---

Iruka tossed another piece of cloth aide, muttering incoherent words of frustration. "Argh, where is it?" The laundry room looked neatly organized from an outsiders point of view, but when you wanted to find something in the vehement thing it was near impossible. Since Kakashi was too lazy to organize he had been the one lately to try and organize this mess of a house. So far, he hadn't been doing a very good job. And this closet was proof of his aspects. He hadn't gotten this far into the house, and lately with the recent workload he hadn't been able to reach the rest of the house.

He cursed when, again, he did not find what he was looking for in a pile of messily folded clothes. "Maa… they couldn't have gotten that far. Where are they…?"

"Where are what, Iruka?"

The man in question jumped at the sudden new arrival, almost knocking over an unstable shelf with him. He turned and was greeted by the aloof stare of Kakashi's leopard. Once over his initial shock, he smiled nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "Um...the towels? I can't seem to find them anywhere."

The cat removed his hands from his pockets and sauntered over and past him to sift through a pile of fresh, crisp jeans. A moment later he handed out a white towel to Iruka. "Kakashi's a pig. I can understand your frustration."

Iruka took the towel gratefully and thanked Sasuke. "He's not all that bad. At least he showers every day and changes his clothes."

"I think that started when you came," the raven supplied bluntly.

Iruka laughed nervously again. He wasn't sure if that was a joke or not, so he just avoided it. "Well, it is Kakashi. He always seemed very clean when I met him."

"And how long have you known him?"

Iruka almost took a step back at the calm, almost _resentful_ question. But it was true; he hadn't known Kakashi that long. Roughly over fourteen months, at most, but he did know the man pretty well, maybe now as well as Sasuke, but it was enough to let him know that Kakashi, albeit a little messy and unorganized, was a very clean man compared to most. Sasuke had known Kakashi for his entire life. And even that wasn't very long because Sasuke was still young and growing, but it was still longer than Iruka and that was good enough for him to feel a little like the odd-one-out. Quite frankly, he still wasn't sure how to act when they were all together. They both seemed very reserved when acting around each other. Kakashi was a pervert when alone, and very kind-hearted when they had their moments but with Sasuke they seemed like nothing more than a teacher and student almost. There was no special connection, nothing that even showed a single bit of affection between them.

He didn't answer the question; he assumed it was rhetorical anyway, as most of Sasuke's questions were. Sasuke started a new conversation out of the tense aura, maybe out of courtesy alone. "Is there a reason you need a towel when you've already had a shower?" he narrowed his eyes, not enough for it to be a direct threat, but enough to make Iruka wary.

Iruka nodded, choosing to take the discreet nature of the threat as something he should ignore. "It's not for me. Naruto still hasn't had a bath yet. He needs to get clean."

"Ah."

A thought wedged its way into Iruka's mind, and before he could think it through properly it was squeezing itself out of his lips. "Will you help me?" He almost slapped himself at how rude he sounded, reprimanding himself for damning his stay there for the rest of his life. He tried again, this time a little more sheepishly. "I mean...if you want. I don't know anything about taking care of Hybrids... their hygiene and all that…" he trailed off awkwardly, wringing a part of the towel in his hands, not sure what to say next to properly apologize without just rolling over. He wasn't sure what it was about Sasuke that made him so nervous, but he was sure it had more to do with feeling as if he were intruding where he should not than actual fear for his life… though that did have some influence on him, very slight or not.

Iruka watched Sasuke's stiff face, a look that he hoped was contemplative in his eyes, before he almost wanted to speak up again, but as soon as his lips moved, Sasuke supplied his answer. "Fine, but as soon as I show you, I leave."

The man sighed in relief, a weight he hadn't noticed piling up leaving his shoulders in the affirmative words. "Thank you, Sasuke."

The cat grunted and began walking to the large bathroom, where he assumed Iruka would have left the fox. _He better not be in my bathroom. I'll kick that guy's scrawny ass if he is. Iruka be damned._

Sasuke's thoughts were short-lived, sadly, as he grabbed the door handle to the large, spa-like room and twisted until it clicked open. He walked in, and almost—had he been someone different—burst into quiet laughter. The scene he'd unknowingly walked into was ridiculous, though he wouldn't admit it out load. He had half a mind to start yowling in hilarity—a mere instinct that he could only overcome by sheer will.

Naruto, noticing new arrivals in the large bathroom, turned his head slightly and froze. Him and Sasuke locked eyes for a moment, a very solid very _tense _moment, and he could almost see the suppressed humor dancing in the dark irises. He wondered what was so funny, but then that brought him back to what he had been doing just seconds before. He did a quick double-take, unsure of what to do.

The fox looked ahead of him and into blue eyes. Slowly, very slowly, he paused in licking of the smooth surface and withdrew his tongue, leaving a large wet trail in his wake. He licked his lips once before looking back at Sasuke, who raised a brow at him. He chuckled nervously, hand going back to scratch at his head. "Eh…"

"Why the hell were you licking a mirror?"

'Mirror?' he looked back at the 'mirror'. "Um....this?" he jabbed a finger at it, bewildered.

"Yeah. That's a mirror. It reflects your image. That's your reflection. You." Sasuke explained and pointed at the reflection as Iruka walked into the room, the man looking between them. The man looked at them for a second longer, shrugged while thinking they were going to do their own thing, and then went to fill the tub.

"Me?" Naruto asked in a confused tone. He looked at the mirror and peered closely at it. True, he had seen something like this in his water at the pet shop, but it wasn't nearly as clear as this. He thought he was yellow and bright, not brown or peachy.

He placed his hand over the top of his reflection and then just stared. He watched as his ears flicked and his tail waved behind him. The way every detail of his sunny golden hair framed his face and shone in the lights of the bathroom, and how his tanned skin was smooth—save for the three distinct marks on each of his cheeks. Blue eyes he'd never seen clearly before glaring at him with apprehensive concentration. He'd never seen himself like this before.

Sasuke was a little perplexed at how Naruto was taking in the way he looked. The fox missed nothing, almost like he was entranced with himself. Sasuke snorted. _He probably is. I would be too if _that_ was what I looked like._ He started down at his own pale arms crossed over his chest. A dull wave of jealousy made itself at home in the pit of his stomach. _He's_ _not that great_. he tried to convince himself, but he couldn't really bring himself to believe it. Naruto was just as handsome as he himself looked—albeit a little more childish and rugged-looking. But he was already getting a more defined chin than he was.

The leopard tilted his head, trying to see a grown, more developed Naruto. He could easily take away the baby fat the young fox had, and then if he just pictured a little more muscle...some more height....

He shook his head. Not a proper subject. It was bad enough the little pest was already starting to grow; he didn't need any more reasons to be jealous. It would still be a few months before he reached up to Sasuke's own height, but he knew those few weeks would go by faster than he liked. He just had to enjoy it while it lasted and try not to be begrudging and childish about it. Until then, he could continue to bully Naruto into his place at this house instead of letting him do just whatever it was that pleased him. Sasuke looked down his nose at the idiotic, yellow blob. He felt different now that he was in his home, eating his food and intruding on his territory.

Naruto grew bored of looking at himself and hopped down off the counter, grinning up at Sasuke. He was satisfied with how he looked, but he still found it better to look at the handsome cat. He didn't know why, but it felt weird and awkward looking and admiring himself. He liked looking at others and making them smile, not making himself smile. It just made him feel like an idiot.

"The bath is ready." Iruka called from his place at the edge of the tub.

Naruto blinked. "Why's the 'ound thing… got drink in it?" he pointed a daft finger at the liquid sloshing about in the tub.

Iruka quirked a brow. "Round thing? This is a bathtub. And it has water in it because you need a bath."

"He's probably never seen one—well, not one this large of one anyway," Sasuke supplied while looking down at the stunned fox. "Let him try it out at his own pace. It won't do any good if you traumatize him on his first try."

Sasuke remembered his first bath, and it wasn't a very good experience. He dully remembered a bored Kakashi filling the large bath, and then promptly picking him up by the scruff and dropping him in when it was filled. No testing the water to see if it was too deep or too hot. The man just dropped him in and left the soap—toxic soap—at the side of the bath for him to use. It was a good thing Sasuke wasn't stupid, or else he'd be dead by now. Living with Kakashi had been like fending for himself in a jungle.

His eye twitched with the memory.

"Oh...so should we let him do it on his own?" Iruka sat up to leave, but Sasuke stopped him.

"No. He needs supervision so someone can keep an eye on him in case he gets any water in his nose, or in his ears," Sasuke explain with a bit of a strain to his tone. Did this man know nothing? Of course you can't leave a young pet unsupervised, especially one like Naruto. It'd be the same thing as leaving a three year old alone with a flame thrower in his case!

Iruka noticed the tight voice. He looked down in embarrassment. He didn't know Sasuke very well, but he assumed he was the type to get annoyed very easily if the occasion called for it and not show it on the outside. In his mind the leopard was probably cursing him six ways to Sunday, even though he looked completely calm now.

Sasuke sighed while closing his eyes and rubbed his forehead to occupy himself. "I'll stay in here with you to make sure you don't mess up." He wouldn't let himself be judged with the knowledge of having a pet's death on his hands.

The blond scrunched up his face, eyes narrowing to slits. So this did have something to do with Sasuke. Great, and just when he thought he was going to get some breathing room.

"Get him undressed." Came Sasuke's silky, smooth voice from beside the fox.

Naruto sputtered. "W-what?!" Why'd he have to get undressed?!

Iruka seemed oblivious to the small pet and came in front of him, grabbing the bottom of the young male's shirt and lifting it over his head and past his large ears. It was placed on top of the marble counter beside them. Naruto sputtered some more and tried to get his owner's hands away from the hem of the shorts, but pale hands quickly went to grab his wrists, holding them above his head.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke. The cat had his head turned in another direction as Iruka pulled his pants down and slid them down his hips, making them pool at his feet. From this angle Naruto couldn't see Sasuke's face, but he could clearly see the pink tingeing the usually pale skin of the other's slender neck. He had half a mind to smirk, or possibly leer for an insane reason he couldn't pinpoint.

He opened his mouth to question that, but instead, a yelp left him as he was lifted and carried away. "Eh! Wha—er!" he struggled on the arms looped tightly around his torso and continued to scream his indigence, tail waving madly.

No sooner than the arms had appeared, they were gone and he was plummeting downward into the 'bathtub'. He had only a second of forewarning before he hit something very warm—very wet—and he pulled his lips back into a snarl and hiss all in one as water soaked into fur, making it stick uncomfortably to his skin. He sloshed around for a bit and tried getting out as his feet made him trip over himself and fall face first into the water below.

He heard Sasuke scream something at Iruka, the water in his ears muffling the loud sound as he inhaled some water into his lungs. He was pulled up quickly and coughed loudly when he was able to breathe properly.

"Naruto! Are you alright, Naruto?!" Iruka screamed into his ear.

"Arg, you are such a complete moron!" Sasuke screamed at the same time from some feet away. Naruto guessed he was still probably trying to avoid looking at him.

"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have dropped you like that, but you were struggling so much that I—"

"It's 'kay," the fox coughed. "'M fine." He settled some more and tried to stand up. "But...don't like this."

"No. You stay down." Sasuke commanded, still several feet away.

"I don' have to do what you say!" he growled back. If it wasn't watered down, he was sure his tail would've been lashing behind him, but as it was, he was entirely drenched and could barely move.

Sasuke glared and shot a look at the fox that clearly meant death to all who stood in its way. Naruto stared calmly back, looking something akin to a drowned cat. It almost, almost made him laugh. It seemed the stupid fox was really funny, in a completely stupid and immature way. He scoffed.

"But you do have to do what I say." Iruka told him firmly with an equally tight gaze. "You need to get clean, whether you like it or not." He grabbed a green bottle from the side of the tub, popped it open and poured some thick liquid onto his palm.

Naruto squirmed away when the cool gel in the man's palm was patted into his hair, and rubbed in. The smell of crisp mint filled the room as froth started to build up in his blond locks. Iruka started to massage his scalp, much to the fox's dislike, but Naruto soon found himself leaning into the touch and enjoying it enough to elicit a loud, rumbling purr in return. The soap was washed out soon after it turned a dirty gray color, and then more added and rubbed in the same way as before.

Sasuke took his seat on a stool in a far corner, watching as Iruka washed down the younger pet, making sure to be ready to intervene as soon as something went wrong. Luckily, nothing did and he was left to sit in the corner and dwell on his much hated thoughts that decided to bubble up in this very inappropriate time. Most of them centering on a wet, naked, young—or maybe not so young—version of the fox in front of him. Sasuke truly hated his mind. He growled quietly at himself. As attractive—that didn't mean he thought Naruto was attractive himself, it just meant he wasn't afraid to admit to himself that he was good-looking, and therefore not avoiding anything—as Naruto was now, he knew he'd been much better suited to his personality when he grew older.

Iruka finished up in about forty minutes, making sure to thoroughly wash the pet's large tail and ears very carefully. They'd managed to get the water filled with bubbles when Naruto's wet tail knocked over the soap and then proceeded to wave around in the water to mix it up. Iruka tried turning on the large shower above, only to have Naruto start another coughing fit and try a mad dash out of the room and away from the waterfall of liquid. The only way they managed to get him back was by turning off the water and promising him they wouldn't turn in on again. That—and then bribe him with ramen, which he'd taken an instant liking to after Iruka introduced it to him.

Sasuke was forced to look away again as Iruka pulled the fox out of the water and dried him off. His eyes drifted back to watch as soon as he was sure there was a towel secured around the blond's waist. Iruka succeeded in drying the mop of yellow fur atop Naruto's head, but struggled with the delicate inside of his ears. The man avoided it for the moment and went to dry off the large, dripping wet tail that was making a huge puddle on the tiles.

With some help from Sasuke they managed to get the inside of the fox's ears clean, which was even more pressingly difficult due to the struggling and biting which earned him several scolding's. Naruto seemed to take pretty good care of himself, though, so it hadn't taken that long to get them clean—but it probably would have gone faster if Naruto would have cooperated a tad more.

All the while, Sasuke was having a hard time trying to keep a stubborn, small, white towel in place that seemed completely content with making his day a living Hell. Really though, the stupid thing wasn't doing a very good job at hiding what it was supposed to, anyway. It barely covered up the fox's his hips, let alone his thighs.

Iruka thanked him after they were finished, Naruto giving a short grunt of what he assumed to be a 'thanks'.

And just when he thought he was in the clear, and Iruka was walking him out of the bathroom, Life decided to be an evil bitch and lash her whip out at him. It made a sore sting in his back as Naruto reached the arch of the doorway, and the small white towel that had been his only hope of keeping himself calm fell to the floor very discreetly, giving him full view of a round, tan ass.

Sasuke stood stock still and clenched his hands at his sides to regain control. _Pervertpervertpervertpervertpervertpervertpervert!_ His mind screamed at him. _Don't get hard, don't get hard, don't get— _He looked down.

"Shit."

* * *

**See? ...comic relief. :ahem:**

**Thanks again to everyone who's shown support... and kicked me in the ass to get going. C:  
**


	5. Chapter Five: First Day of Doom

**...Yes, yes I know I'm horrible at updating. And this chapter isn't all that eventful. DX Hopefully things will pick up soon!**

**_Dedication_: I would like to dedicate this chapter to Audri, because she's just awesome and I luff her. And she reminds me that I have things to get done! XD SHE IS THE REASON I HAVE UPDATED AND DESERVES MUCH LOVE FOR IT. -eats her-**

**_Warnings_: Fluff and stuff.**

**_Disclaimer_: I wouldn't be a very good mangaka, because NARUTO wouldn't be passed two chapters with how horrible I am at updating. D8 WHO MISSES THOSE 30+ PAGE CHAPTERS FROM THE BEGINNING? DX**

_Enjoy, pl0x. C:_

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**Hybrid** **|| Chapter Four**

* * *

Sasuke was starting to get annoyed with his odd acceptance of waking up to four limbs curled around his body in every which way. And even more disturbed by the fact that he had begun to grow accustomed to it in the short span of time that it had begun. Which was not very long at all, but normally things like this lasted, if they happened at all, no more than a millisecond before he shoved the person away, and if they happened to be Kakashi, he just wouldn't bother with polite interaction and would simply nonchalantly push him down the stairs the next chance he got for all his trouble.

He swore he would get back at this annoyance someday. But for now he'd rather save himself the embarrassment of having a red face because of those legs, and arms and just shove him to the ground gently enough not to wake him, but yet still be satisfied. Runt could sleep through an earthquake anyway, so no big deal there. He'd be satisfied and he's save face… not that he needed to in the first place.

Instead of that, he carefully pried those still small hands off his neck, and untangled the legs from his waist. Getting up, he debated once again just kicking the smaller boy off but decided it'd be too much trouble if he by some chance woke up. Sasuke lifted him cradle style, kicked the futon he had laid out two weeks before that still stayed unused, and laid Naruto down gently, saying to himself that it was only because he didn't want to have to deal with explaining himself. He saved his self-pride by throwing the covers on, rather than tuck him in and coo at his cuteness. He did not have the urge to, it was just he felt disgusted with himself enough to feel it appropriate—he'd already done everything else, all that was left was the kissing and lullabies.

Heading toward the bathroom, Sasuke scoffed at one of the ideas and blushed at the other.

--

"Naruto. Time to get up." A hazy voice drifted to unresponsive ears.

There was a light tapping on the door, and said ears decided to give a small, feeble twitch in response to the light rap at the door. The fox responded with a loud snore and turned over, his back now facing the door in unintended ignorance. In his dream-like state of mind he heard something around the lines of '_Damnation of the world'_ and '_ungrateful beasts'_. Naruto wasn't really in the mood to deny or agree to anything at the moment. He was much too busy snuggling with his pillow, so warm and soft and…

Yesterday he had a heart to heart chat with Iruka about 'ghosts' and 'moaning' of all sorts, spluttering and blushing profusely in embarrassment throughout their little session, Iruka not exactly any different, though it didn't dull anything. I made it worse, actually. Apparently there were no ghosts in the Hatake household. Just a very demanding pervert with sexual needs not expressed until the man had finally decided he was gay and to hell with it. Naruto's face tinted red and he buried his head deeper into his pillow. Oh, the embarrassment. He would never live this down, not in a million years. He was tempted to burn his ears off because they had already been tainted by their stupid human-ness, so what would it matter if they weren't there at all? Flawless logic.

Naruto eventually got up and stretched, blinking the weariness out of his eyes and scratching the back of his head, twitching his ears until they stood erect and alert atop his head. First, arching his backside up and lowering his upper body while his arms reached out across the ocean of sheets and covers, and then doing the reverse as he forcefully deterred his body of any and all kinks. He yawned loudly and looked about him, growing canines flashing predatorily from his open mouth, small tongue curling. He was moved onto the floor last night apparently, since he was now on a futon instead of the comfort of Sasuke's large mattress, where he had initially fallen asleep without any concern over Sasuke's protests. He grumbled and cursed the cat. It wasn't fair that he got all that room to himself and didn't want to share. A futon was nothing compared to a large, well endowed bed. He pouted for his loss. _Jerk._

Cautiously, though not berating himself for a move he knew he would get kill for, he crawled over to the side of the leopard's bed and peered over, hair almost standing on end. He wasn't there. His fur settled and ceased to bristle any longer.

The blond looked over at the clock on the mahogany bedside table. The adults had said it'd help to tell the time—at first he wasn't sure what 'telling time' would do, since it never wanted to listen to him in the first place, but then he eventually got the meaning after a few goads via Sasuke, and a brief explanation from Iruka—but he still didn't get it. So, he looked out the window instead. He gave the dim lighting a blank, tired stare. _Who gets up at this time?_ Naruto made a face and swished his tail across the wood floor. There was no way he was getting up. He threw himself onto Sasuke's bed melodramatically, stretching his limbs once more before sighing wistfully and smiling from the warmth the bed provided, and opted on going back to sleep, snuggling into the warm covers and inhaling. His face immediately went sour.

It smelled like Sasuke. The whole bed wreaked like that damn cat. From the headboard all the way down to the small fabrics of the pillow cases… it was there, lingering after long days and striving after a good night's rest. But...Naruto wasn't really complaining, if he really admitted it to himself. He inhaled the scent as much as he could, committing it to memory for reasons unknown and not really caring. Why should he care if he wanted to memorize Sasuke's scent? For all he knew it could be some ancient way of getting to know his enemies—a defense mechanism. He wasn't going to pass that up; it sounded cool. And it wasn't like Sasuke smelled _bad, _well he did smell like a bastard, but it wasn't raunchy or gross. It smelled like the pink stuff in that bottle in the bathroom. _Sorta peachy…_ His tail started to wave on its own volition and his ears pressed flat against his head once more.

"Get up, loser," a voice drifted through the doorway in a vicious and unfriendly manner, and Naruto flinched, pausing.

"No," the fox responded with conviction after a while, not turning over. He curled slightly and reflexively increased his grasp on the pillow. It was too warm, too soft. He didn't want to leave just yet and make cold the vibrating warmth that soothed him from the blankets, making strange feelings of comfort spread through his body in a milky way. Safe and pleasant.

"Come on. We have to go to the cemetery," this time it sounded annoyed, irritated and slightly prickly at the edges, maybe just at the fringe of going off in a very Sasuke-like manner.

It made Naruto angry, defiant. "Make me," he taunted back unconvincingly, inhaling the scent on the pillow more, maybe the last time, tail stiffening and going rigid with momentary bliss. He exhaled euphorically, shivering. Oh, how he wanted to stay. He whined low in his throat, a small keening noise that enthralled the idea of helplessness.

"Fine." Sasuke said in an even tone just outside, his voice still sounded filtered, so he assumed the light tap he heard had been him kicking off the wall to presumably strut down the hallway in that bastardly way of his. Naruto heard footsteps lead away from the room and he breathed a sigh of relief, scowling with a scrunched up pout on his face, he had every intention of going back to sleep. That is, until he heard the squeak of the water handle turning and the pelting of droplets of water and eventually a huge stream of wetness with the unmistakable sound of water hitting the linoleum of their bathtub.

"'M up!" he yelled and sprang up from the bed, pillow making it somewhere near the other opposite side of the room, and bolted towards the door after untangling himself from the now unpleasant snarl of the bed sheets. He yanked the handle and thrust it open—only to be met with a very cold, very sudden and heart riveting splash of water in his face, making his tail go rigid for a whole other reason. "Hey!" he yelled again while spitting out some water that had miraculously wormed its way into his mouth stealthier than he, a fox. "I said I was…" he coughed, still bristling. "Up!"

"Too bad. I already had the bucket filled when you said it. Now get dressed."

Sasuke left and ignored the very fluent cursing that left the boy's mouth as he walked out of earshot, tossing the bucket behind him uncaringly and hearing it clank uselessly on the floor while he stuffed his hands in his pockets nonchalantly.

Sasuke scowled on ahead. The thing was almost _decent_ at speaking now. He got here roughly two weeks ago and was already very good at it, enough that no one had to ask for clarification, at least. He wasn't without error though, most definitely not, and some of the time Sasuke had to wonder if Japanese was actually his first language. It seemed like he was speaking in his own tongue most of the time. Sasuke didn't think he could take much more of it either, the headaches and the constant bothers were really a burden. The boy was too much to bear the way his mouth ran a mile a minute, speaking as if he could just talk to Sasuke freely like that and get away scott-free. It was like a Saturday morning cartoon show on repeat.

He kept himself from sighing and ran a hand though his hair, glaring ahead of himself. He'd have to fix that, if only just to gain back some semblance of the peace he had once had when he'd been alone with Kakashi. Not that it had been much better, but at least all he had to do was acknowledge that man's existence instead of keeping him at bay every hour of every day.

Sasuke ran his hands along and down the shirt he wore to flatten out the wrinkles, pruning himself to stay as neat as possible. It'd been difficult not to get himself wet with that water, and it definitely had been a gamble but heck, it was worth it. He fought down a smirk as he ran a hand through his hair again to make sure that everything was in place. Going to this cemetery meant looking nice, he guessed by Iruka's firm reprimand, as did every other formal occasion him and his master attended. He looked himself over with a pristine eye and deemed himself fit. If Iruka didn't like it, then too bad. He didn't necessarily like being forced into a stuffy suit to go outside.

A stumble to his right signified the arrival of the fox. Sasuke made a face in return, his nose wrinkling and ears twitching in annoyance. It took every morsel of his willpower to keep his tail from twitching, but somehow by some force he managed. While he looked perfectly pressed and presentable, Naruto looked the complete opposite. His hair was ruffled and set to one side, making it look almost akin to a comb over. The suit that he had most likely found on hid bed looked as if it had just been run over by a car and then stretched by a homeless person; it certainly smelled that way. There were distinct drool marks on the corner of his mouth, dried and crusting already. Sasuke's fur and skin bristled. How annoying.

The leopard strode over and tied the tie that the blond was struggling with at the moment, hands shooing Naruto's away to properly loop it around itself and make it stay on the blond's much too small neck. Giving it a final tug he stood back and straitened up the fox a little more, wondering why he even put the suit on in the first place—he didn't seem like one that would like feeling confined, but then again, the suit was too large to fit that snuggly anyway. Naruto just stood there like an idiot as Sasuke inspected his handy work, blue eyes blinking up at him and then peering closely, narrowing to slits.

"Wow, Sas'ke. Oo'd make wan helluva gud wipfe," he smiled, which Sasuke assumed was a smirk. He scowled and walked away. Naruto blinked, wondering if he'd said it wrong or incoherently as he stared at Sasuke's retreating back and tail, stopping his mind from trailing his eyes a little lower. "'ey!" Naruto pouted when Sasuke refused to stop. This time he did mutter something incoherent under his breath that had to do with moods and more wives.

"What was that?" Sasuke snapped, a low growl in his throat bubbling to the surface.

"N'thin'!" Naruto yelped as he ran away almost snickering. Sasuke smirked, snorting as he turned and headed towards the stairs.

**--**

"So..."

Kakashi looked back at the confused looking fox. He was looking curiously at the stones protruding out from the ground. "We're going to see someone, Naruto."

Naruto blinked, sparing a glance at Kakashi and sniffing the wet, spring air. "Who?" If Kakashi wanted to be talkative, who was he to judge?

"A man called Sarutobi. He was a very respectable man when he was here. He still is respected by many." Kakashi drawled, looking at the large clouds in contemplation with a bored look in his eye. Iruka glanced at him in approval. Kakashi twitched.

"Why? What…" Naruto asked, not entirely sure how to word it just right. He frowned deeply, eyes looking dejected and tail ticking on the pavement behind him as he walked, that is, before Iruka scolded him and he was forced to keep it up off the ground. They were walking on one of the many paved walkways in the large 'cemetery', and it was when he saw a mourning family that he thought of asking who they were visiting. Naruto, being the curious thing he was, deemed it necessary to ask as many questions as possible during all hours. Everything was so strange and he didn't get most of it. Why would someone want to live in a place like this? So far the only houses he'd seen were small, look-alike houses near the vicinity that the all lived with small yards and white fences. Completely boring. But this was oddly interesting…

"Well," Iruka continued for Kakashi, someone recognizing the blond's tone of voice and getting what he was trying to ask, and somehow knowing that was about as much as he could expect from Kakashi, who was too preoccupied with reading his porn novel again. "He was the first one to propose the teaching of hybrids like you and Sasuke, and actually make it happen."

Naruto inclined his head in question. "Me 'n Sas'ke?" he looked over his shoulder where Sasuke was lagging behind, boredom evident on his face to all that chose to look close enough with hands stuffed in his pockets… a trait that Naruto found completely annoying. But still, he found his hands in the pockets of his shorts more and more often out of reflex than of actually intending it.

"Uh...Yes. You see, some hybrids aren't capable of things like human speech and things like reading. They're inbred so much with different breeds, genetically altered with different animals and domesticated so that it's physically impossible for them to do just that. Even with the capabilities of most human things like empathy, speech and intellectual problem solving most of them don't know how to access that part of them." Iruka looked at Naruto to see if he was following along with it. The fox nodded and swished his tail.

_I don't get it…_

"Because of that, hybrids that could use speech in structured sentences—no matter how complex—and do normal everyday things weren't allowed to attend any kind of school or even learn what they could. Sarutobi wanted to change that. He was a very respectable man; some even believed that he mentored Orochimaru, the creator of hybrids, but didn't share his sentiments with wanting to confine their knowledge. He wanted to give the right to learn to any animal that was capable of doing so." Iruka smiled as he said this, a nostalgic look rested on his face.

"He succeeded," Iruka continued. "But no one wanted the job of teaching them; it wasn't a very respectable career to have. So, he created Konoha. It's one of the only hybrid schools and some of the teachers are animals themselves. You'll be going there tomorrow with Sasuke."

The man gestured over to the uninterested feline. Naruto scowled and whipped his head away, large ears going flat against his head at the mention of Sasuke. Iruka sighed. _They're like cats and dogs these two. _He then blinked at his own thoughts.

"Oh, here we are." Kakashi stated in a bored tone, signaling their arrival and snapping the other three out of their own reveries. A small grave next to an old oak rested in front of them. Iruka did a small prayer and placed a bouquet of white flowers on the ground next to it. On the stone was a small picture of an older looking man, engraved text was placed at the bottom of it, saying all that he accomplished in his life, the words slightly faded and glass tinted with the glow of the sun and dust.

_This guy seemed like an old fart._ Naruto stated while closely studying the picture, kneeling on the ground next to it, not paying attention to Iruka's snap of disapproval.

"Naruto!"

_Did I say that out loud...?_

"Yes, you did, moron." Sasuke snorted at him, not paying attention to the grave site at all. "How can you say something and not know?"

Naruto glared over his shoulder. "'ow kin you be such a dick an' 'ot realize it?" He stomped away in a flurry, heading towards, what it seemed like to Naruto, a cluster of interesting looking bushes. Again, Iruka sighed as he turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, please be a little more considerate, Naruto's just getting used to things. Maybe you could be more...Oh, I don't know...Helpful?" The leopard scoffed at Iruka. Naruto glared at them from afar in the shade of the oak tree, his tail beating at the ground in irritation as he sulked.

"I don't help idiots." And with that, he left and headed straight for the car, passing and kicking dirt at the fox as he went, who growled and tried to trip him, but Sasuke was more coordinated and dodged with a jump that would only be noticeable to those throwing the attack. The one who had his face in the dirt because of said attack.

"Y-You bastard! Just wait till I—" Naruto jerked and looked at the hand placed on his shoulder. He stared up into Kakashi's bored looking eye.

"Naruto, don't be rash. We're in a cemetery; it's not wise to be disrespectful," Kakashi said to him while reading from his little orange book, giving a thumbs up to Iruka absently, who didn't look too pleased. Iruka hit him upside the head for his troubles.

"Like you're one to talk." The collar of the silver-headed man was grabbed and used to drag him away, a glint of unsatisfaction and hurt smoldering before Kakashi turned his eye back to his book and allowed himself to be dragged to the car.

Naruto stared their way oddly.

--

"Where're we going noooooow?" Naruto rested his head on his fist while he whined to Iruka, mouth opening widely to express his annoyance and flashing his small teeth. Iruka continued to yell at Kakashi and ignore the fox completely. A scowl marred Naruto's face in the next instant. He hated being ignored, especially when he really wanted the answer to his questions.

Blue eyes flitted back and forth while he watched the moving scenery outside the car window. A delicious scent wafted into his nostrils as the wind changed and the car turned and his nose twitched, eyes closing to take in the smell. _What's that?_ With his eyes still closed, he leaned into the source of the smell. The scent got stronger and he was soon pressing his face into a soft fabric. The fox rubbed his face into it, an orange tail flitting happily behind him and goofy grin in place, cheeks flushing.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Naruto jumped and hit his head against the window behind him. He curled up on the seat and cradled his abused head between his legs. "Owwww..." Carefully, he peeked out of his eye to look at the leopard and quickly shut it when he realized Sasuke was staring at him and the hurt was gone for the most part.

Naruto was just about to forcefully stop his tail from moving, when he heard a sound that both compelled and confused him.

_Purring._

He looked at his tail from the corner of his eye. It was still waving back and forth in a slow and steady rhythm, fur brushing back and forth.

And rubbing against Sasuke's own tail.

He looked up sheepishly from his fetal position and was not too surprised by the fact that Sasuke was turned away, his ears only slightly visible but clearly tinged red. Sasuke was blushing all the way down to his neck and purring almost loudly enough for Kakashi and Iruka to hear, if they hadn't been arguing at the moment. Naruto blushed back and looked away, a pleasant buzz sweeping up from his tail. He stuck out his bottom lip and brought his knees closer to his chest.

Despite his better judgment Naruto didn't stop his tail or say a word about it.

_**--**_

"Oh my, what's this?"

Kakashi opened the back door of his car and stared at the sight presented to him. Sure, any other human being would deem it unbearably cute, but this was Hatake Kakashi, and he saw and deemed everything dealing with the two of them annoying. This meant he had to either wake them both up and risk the loss of his visible eye, or carry them both, risking the loss of movement in his back.

Him and Iruka hadn't expected their trip to the south end of Japan to be this long but they ended up getting lost, and Kakashi hadn't been about to stop and ask for directions at any time during their trip. No, it would hurt the manly pride that he worked so hard to keep up, and even Iruka had refused to stop for directions, so there was no way he was going to either.

"Kakashi, what are you gawking at?" Iruka inquired, standing by the door to the house, rubbing away the sleep built up in the corners of his eyes whilst yawing.

"Oh, nothing Iruka dear." He cooed. The chocolate haired man scoffed at him and motioned for his lover to hurry up.

Kakashi gave one last look down at his and Iruka's pets. Sasuke was laying with his back against the seat and Naruto leaning on his chest. A pale chin rested on golden locks of hair and a protective arm was slung around the fox's shoulders. Naruto was curled up and had his tail wound between the leopard legs and they both had completely serene expressions on their faces.

The man smiled and softly closed the door to his car. This was too cute to interrupt and a night alone with Iruka was something he wouldn't pass up. Plus, he wasn't risking his back nor his eye that evening.

**--**

Kakashi sighed and fingered the lump on his head as he took another sip of his tea. When Sasuke woke up this morning he wasn't cheery in the least. To show his frustrations, he grabbed the first object he saw (in this case, it was his very expensive Chinese vase he kept in the doorway) and quite literally hurled it at his head with no remorse evident when he has been knocked out cold as a result. It wasn't one of Kakashi's most enjoyable mornings if you chose to put it that way.

The man's one visible eye shifted slowly to the right, where a seething Sasuke sat with his arms crossed and radiated pure bloodlust. From the sink, Iruka glanced worriedly over his shoulder between the both of them, waiting for one of them to screw up and send the other into frenzy. The dishes he washed clinked together quietly, and if you listened carefully enough through the light sounds of the early morning, you could hear the strands of hair on Sasuke's head pop up one by one from the tension.

"Ahem." All three men in the room turned their heads in the direction of the blond boy calling their attention standing in the doorway. He grinned happily at them and practically skipped to his seat, plopping down into it languidly. "I slept great! I should try sleepin' in the car more of'en." Kakashi's eye crinkled and Naruto raised a brow as Sasuke gave the man a glare so evil he thought a hole would burn through Kakashi's head. "Uh...Right. What's for breakfast?" he chirped to Iruka.

Iruka didn't even spare him a glance. "For you...let's see... Nothing."

Naruto's eyes watered. "Aw...but why?" he pouted and Iruka snorted.

"That's ain't gonna work on me, Naruto. I work with hybrid kids all day. Your puppy-pouts don't work."

"But _why_. I didn't do nothing!"

"It's 'anything'. And yes, you did. You overslept and if you waste any more time you'll be late for your first day of classes!" he punctuated his sentence with a hard point to the clock.

Naruto looked at the clock. "But it's only 7:30."

Iruka also stared up at the clock. "Oh... I guess you're right. Fine! Make some cup ramen and be fast about it!"

Naruto saluted and hopped over to the cupboard, getting out three cup ramens. He made them and then ate them within a thirty second time span.

"Now you two, get ready for school."

_**--**_

Sasuke wasn't just mad... He was _seething_. To him, that made no sense at all so he chose to take it to lighter terms. He wasn't angry or jealous or protective or anything. He was just miffed by the fact that this supposed idiot was getting attention again. Sure, he was happy that some of his usual fans were now preoccupied with something else but...

"Ack! The hell did that?!" Naruto rubbed his bottom as he whirled around and glared at nothing. "Stupid perverted jerks..." Somewhere in the distance, a few girls giggled and ran away mischievously.

School was getting on Naruto's nerves and it hadn't even been fifteen minutes that he had been there. Not only was his ass getting abused every second, he just now found out that he had to deal with this _five days of the week_. What a pain.

"Your speech has gotten a lot better." Sasuke mentioned off-handedly. Naruto blinked and paused, but then grinned at the compliment he was given, looking up at Sasuke with squinted eyes. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. "...But that's nothing special so don't get a big head." Naruto's grin turned into a frown.

"Can't deal with givin' a compl'ment, 'kin you? Prick."

Sasuke did not twitch, he blinked, that was it. "At least I can go three steps without tripping over my own feet, moron."

"I do not—'ey! What the hell!" Naruto turned as his ass was pinched once again...and fell flat on his face right before the 180 interval. Sasuke smirked and snickered—slightly. The fox opened his mouth to yell but smirked instead, extending his foot into the path of Sasuke's feet as he saw an opening.

"I told yo—" Sasuke fell on his face as well, almost not catching himself before his face was mashed into the ground, his shirt and knees were dirty now though. "You fucking idiot!" He glared at the laughing blond and glared. "I swear I'm going to kill—"

"Sasuke-kuuun!"

Sasuke's face went into a deadpan. _Shit..._

"Sasuke-kun! Good morning!"

Naruto saw nothing but a flash of blue and blonde and Sasuke being tackled to the ground once again. He stared stupidly. "Huh...?" He looked to his right and saw Sasuke struggling to push something clinging to his arm off of him.

"Get off, Ino."

The girl did and offered a hand to Sasuke when she got up. Sasuke ignored it, but Ino didn't let it spoil her mood for more than a second. She smiled and then noticed Naruto out of the corner of her eye. "Sasuke-kun...who's your friend?"

Sasuke brushed off his sleeve, only sparing a glance at Naruto for not even a second before sneering and giving her a cold answer. "He's not a friend. It's my owner's new pet."

Ino perked up, silver ears going erect. "Oh! What breed is he?"

Naruto smiled weakly and answered instead. "Uh... Uzumaki."

The blonde haired girl's expresson changed to one of confusion for a moment. "Uzumaki..? I've never heard of that breed before. Is it a new one?"

"Yeah... I-I guess so." Naruto rubbed the back of his head. _She's really cute..._

Ino beamed a smile at him and extended her hand, bowing down slightly to reach his level. "My name's Ino, of the Yamanaka breed," she said proudly, shaking his hand firmly but softly. Naruto blushed and shook back weakly, not really getting the point of shaking hands yet.

"Don't go bragging like it's something to be proud of _pig,_" a voice sounded from behind them, making them all turn. Ino's eye flared and she pushed Naruto aside to glare at the offender, making the other blond yelp at the sudden fiery passion of her words.

"Who are you to talk Sakura, you billboard-brow freak!" Ino yelled back.

Naruto cowered from the his spot while Sasuke looked on in a bored sort of way, hands going to his pockets immediately. He checked his watch. _Class doesn't start for another fifteen minutes... Damn._

The girl called 'Sakura' flipped her long cherry-blonde hair (which looked suspiciously more like pink) behind her shoulder and studied her nails. "At least I'm not some inbred housecat!" she sneered.

"At least I'm not some disgusting _mutt_!"

Naruto continued to cower and studied the two more closely. _Mutt?_ He wasn't familiar with the term, but it didn't sound good, and from what he could see of the pink girl, it wasn't bad. Beautiful bushy tail and small perky ears definitely didn't make her seem like a 'mutt', whether it was true or not. He gawked shamelessly, tail waving and ears up.

Not that Ino was any less attractive. Atop her head were beautifully groomed silver ears, one of them adorned with a small, blue bow. Her fluffy, sleek silver tail was flitting angrily behind her, glinting as it caught the sunlight streaming in from the small windows in the hallway. Her hands rested at her hips and her grey eyes flared dangerously.

"Hmph. Whatever Ino. I didn't come here to see you anyway. I came to see Sasuke-kun and his new friend." The last part left her lips sounding like pure and succulent honey. She looked past Ino to look at the cool looking leopard leaning against the wall, observing something that none of them could quite see, and a tick finding rhythm on his brow. "Nice day today isn't it, Sasuke-kun?" Her haunting green eyes half lidded seductively, tail fluffed out and swung slowly allowing it to glint all seven colors it seemed to be. Naruto stared at it in infatuation.

"Hn," was all that he answered, looking completely uninterested. Sakura deflated a little while Ino smirked, triumphal.

Hand on her hip, Ino sneered. "See Sakura? He doesn't want _you_. A pitiful little dog with a proud feline with him? Dream on!"

Sakura snapped from her pretty demeanor, growling. "And like a pampered house cat like you would be any different?!" the other retorted. Ino huffed her indignance and waved her tail once.

Naruto looked between the two and looked to Sasuke for help. He just continued to look bored and perpetually blank. The fox began to say something, when someone coming around the corner interrupted him and the two rivals went ignored once again. A slumped pet and a boisterous one approached him and Sasuke, grinning like an idiot.

"They at it again? Hmph, it's like this every morning," the one with shaggy hair said to him, relaxed as ever and acting like this was completely normal, to have two pets at each other's throats. Naruto tilted his head and the other seemed to notice he was new, a shocked realization crossing his bored features, brow creasing. The talkative one acted on his notice. "Oh, you must be that new pet they said was commin'. How's it goin'? My name's Kiba, of the Inuzuka breed," he gave him a grin and patted the one next to him on the back. "And this lazy guy's name is Shikamaru!" he barked cheerfully.

_At least they're friendly…_

"Hm... How troublesome," was the murmured reply given back as a greeting. "Yeah...Of the Nara breed..." he rubbed his shoulder and winced, brushing the more active one off.

Kiba stumbled, looking put-off. "Ah, don't be such a hardass, Shikamaru! Oh... Sorry...what's your name again?" He turned to Naruto again, squinting and sniffing.

"It's uh...Naruto. Naruto of the Uzumaki breed." He acted on their weird introductions and was able to form an okay sounding sentence, despite the slight slur he still retained. He stared at the two weirdly, backing away a little to gain back that personal distance Sasuke was always complaining about. _These pets just keep getting weirder..._

"Huh, never heard of it. And you smell funny." Kiba deadpanned, looking over his head for a moment before looking back down at him, ignoring the way Naruto bristled at the intended insult. "Anyway, what are you doing hanging out with a stiff like this jerk?" he pointed at Sasuke who, in turn, glared darkly at him. "Ahahaaaa...See? A stiff." Sasuke chose to ignore them from that point on, and Naruto wondered if that was also a product of having a "personal bubble". He wanted it.

Naruto smiled and laughed, though glared at the insult that had been thrown his way in favor of having someone with a similar opinion as him. So he wasn't the only one who thought like that? Funny. "Heheh. What're ya anyway? A goat or somefin'?" he asked.

Kiba frowned and Shikamaru chuckled. "Haha, very funny, but NO! I'm a Husky. See? Dog ears!" he pointed at the top of his head with both hands where two triangular chestnut and white ears were perched. A matching tail waved happily behind him.

Naruto leaned into the dog-boy's face. "What're those triangles fer?" He pointed at them.

"Oh, these? They're something only the Inuzuka clan can where proudly!" He puffed out his chest and Shikamaru shook his head from his resting place on the wall. Sasuke scoffed next to them. "S-Shut up! I don't see anything on you guys that's any special!"

"What 'bout him? He's got horns." Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, who looked as if he were sleeping.

"Yeah, he's a Japanese deer. That's nothing special."

"A...deer?" Naruto asked stupidly. "Why would someone want a deer as a pet?"

Shikamaru glared at him in return to his rude question. "I don't like troublesome people like you..." he closed his eyes again.

"...Not a very lively guy, is'he?"

Kiba laughed. "Yep, never was either. Now...What are you...? A cat?"

Naruto became indignant immediately, rearing back and coming forward again with a loud, "No! Imma _fox_!" He pouted, and then looked slightly worried. "Why... Do I look like a cat?" He asked warily.

"What's so bad about being a cat?" Ino squawked from her position in Sakura's face.

Naruto jumped. He had completely forgotten about the other two girls until now. "Uh...Nothing?" he grinned sheepishly and backed away, afraid of the fierce power of the female anatomy (and voice) at this point. It seemed other people were also afraid, because the few students that had lingered to carefully observe the little group scurried off in other directions of the halls.

"Wrong! _Everything's_ bad about being a cat!" Sakura scolded him; her face did a complete 360 and she turned to look at Sasuke. "Except for you, Sasuke-kun! You're as perfect as ever!" She was ignored, though it didn't seem to affect her that much. She turned back to Naruto and smiled. "Being a canine is much better, alright? Don't let anyone else say otherwise." Sakura finished off with a wink and Naruto's face turned a bright red. They both ignored Kiba's "Hell yeah!" From the other direction. Naruto was having a moment with a pretty girl, and would rather just have green eyes and a perfect pale, heart-shaped face in mind when he remembered it later.

Kiba frowned, changing his attitude at being ignored and crossing his arms. "Is that _all_ you girls care about? That jerk? What about us other guys!" Kiba gestured to himself and Shikamaru.

"I might get fleas from you," Sakura said, slightly disgusted but keeping polite otherwise. Kiba blinked, checked his hair and Shikamaru muttered something incoherent once again. "And besides, no one can compare to Sasuke-kun!" she sing-songed. She brightly turned to where Sasuke was to find him...

...Gone.

"Oh! Sasuke-kun...!" her green eyes searched for him, but he was nowhere to be found. She sighed while looking down trotted, tail barely brushing the ground and ears going flat. Naruto silently cursed the black leopard for making Sakura hurt.

Ino's mouth went agape and her heels tapped the ground as she swiveled to find him. "See Sakura! You scared him off! Now I'll never get my chance!"

Sakura's attitude immediately changed, scaring Naruto. "Keep dreaming! Like he'll ever go out with you!" Their voices trailed off as they walked around a corner, seemingly to look for Sasuke, but Kiba and Shikamaru both knew it was to go and eat breakfast together like the normal friends they were.

Kiba sighed and turned to Naruto, deflating from all the tension those two caused every Monday almost. "Even if they fight like that...they've been best friends since kindergarten. They're never apart." Kiba ran a hand through his hair and slumped against the wall. "So...Where were you before coming here?"

Though Naruto felt better at Kiba's explanation, he hesitated while thinking maybe he should go after them, if not to stop them from killing each other, then to flirt. It was when Shikamaru cracked and eye open, interested in his answer, that he replied slowly. "...I was...At a pet shop...Sasuke convinced his owner to buy me..." he glared at nothing when he heard his own accent compared to Kiba's.

"Sasuke did...?" Kiba said in disbelief. "He must really like you then. He has..._no_ friends. At all. Only his fan club." Kiba sneered at the end, eye twitching.

"Oh..." Naruto looked down at his feet. "He doesn't act like it," he scowled and tension grew in the air once more as he thought about the cocky attitude, and how he'd only ever seen it paired along with pet's and people that had others to back them up. Naruto was about to ask more questions, but a loud, booming voice cut him off.

"HELLO MY YOUTHFUL COUNTERPARTS!"

All three winced at the loud tone. "Oh no...It's Lee..." Kiba muttered and turned to greet the hyperactive boy as he approached rather energetically. "Eh...Hey Lee..."

"Greetings, Kiba! Who is your new friend?" he looked towards Naruto, who flinched and flattened his large ears. "Oh! I am terribly sorry! Let me introduce myself! I am Rock Lee!" he extended his hand and Naruto stared at it for a long, awkward period, but Lee never took it away, so he extended his hand and shook it warily.

"Lee...Of the Rock breed?" he asked as he let go of the boy's hand.

"Not exactly, Naruto." Kiba butt in hastily and maybe a bit too bluntly. "Lee was wild before Gai-sensei found him. He's a squirrel that was abandoned by its mother, doesn't really have a breed." He looked at Lee, who's smile was a little less bright. Shikamaru said something about being rude, but Lee didn't really seem to mind.

"Ah! But Gai-sensei is my greatest inspiration!" Lee put in, smile once again glinting. Naruto observed him as he did the others. His ears were a dark brown, almost black, color with small tuffs of fur coming out of the ends. His tail was poofy and untamed.

A shrill ring interrupted their friendly little meeting, causing a few students to bump past them in the hall, some staring as they made their way to places.

"Ah! We must be leaving my friends! Or else we shall face Kurenai-sensei's fury!" and with that, he bolted down the hallway.

Naruto sweat dropped and let himself be dragged away by his new found friends, listening casually and comfortably as Kiba chatted and Shikamaru mumbled, thanking whatever it was he should that he had found other people to hang around with, instead of Sasuke all day. Even if they were loud.

_I'll get that bastard for leaving me here. I'll be deaf by the time the day's over._

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**Please forgive any spelling/grammatical errors! My beta is amazing and therefore has things to attend to. -glomps her-**

**Just introductions to the characters, and sorry this is short-ish. :C I'll stuff more in the next chapter. But yeah, my YouTube addiction was cut off bluntly when the wrong crowd started some stuff from two months ago that's none of their business, and are acting like... _teenagers_ about it. DRAMA-LLAMAS DO NOT BELONG ON THE INTERWEBS, KTHXBAI. It's idiotically useless.** **-clings to FF once again- So, going to ignore them until they get bored and realize I'm a boring person who does not want their exciting drama-llama-ing. Boring person is boring.  
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**I hope you enjoyed, and thank you for all the reviews I've gotten so far, even though they're getting so far away from each other. ILYALL.**


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